March 30 () –
Some 45 countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have invoked this Thursday the Moscow Mechanism before the forced transfer and deportation of minors from areas occupied by Russia to Russian territory.
Specifically, the countries, among which are the United States, Turkey, Canada and countries of the European Union, such as Germany, France or Spain, have sent an informative letter with this request to the director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE ODIHR), Matteo Mecacci.
In 2022, the OSCE countries already invoked one of the paragraphs of the Moscow Mechanism to “address the Human Rights and humanitarian impacts of the invasion of the Russian Federation and acts of war” in Ukraine.
After that, they received two reports from the independent expert missions on April 12 and July 11, 2022, which determined that various rights violations by Moscow in Ukraine could constitute “crimes against humanity.”
For all these reasons, the 45 OSCE countries have once again highlighted the “continuing impacts of the current Russian aggression against Ukraine, in particular on the civilian population, including children”, following the “numerous credible allegations of forced transfer “of minors.
“We are concerned that forced removal and/or deportation may also expose them to numerous violations and abuses of Human Rights, particularly those related to citizenship, separation from parents or guardians, adoption, and other violations or abuses that lead to forced assimilation,” they said in a joint statement.
Furthermore, OSCE countries have also expressed concern about so-called “summer camps”, in which “children have allegedly been prevented from contacting or returning to their parents or guardians”.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in mid-March for Russian President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of a war crime for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from Ukrainian war-captured areas to Russian territory. .
