OSCE mission: deportation of Ukrainian kids to Belarus a war crime

May 4, BPN. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has recognized the displacement of Ukrainian children as a war crime, according to a report by the organization’s fact-finding mechanism.

“The practice of the forcible transfer and/or deportation of Ukrainian children to the temporarily occupied territories and to the territory of the Russian Federation may amount to a crime against humanity of ‘deportation or forcible transfer of population,'” the report reads.

It mentions Belarus, to where Ukrainian children were purportedly deported “by advancing Russian forces in the Kyiv oblast during the initial phase of the invasion.”

Besides, parents in the occupied Ukrainian territories were being offered to send their young ones to the “so-called recreation camps” in Crimea, Russia and Belarus, OSCE experts said.

They pointed out instances where “the initial lawful medical evacuation to Russia (and one instance to Belarus) had been prolonged for reasons unrelated to the medical treatment.”

Last week, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution urging the international community to support the prosecution of Alaksandr Łukašenka, among others, for the illegal displacement of Ukrainian kids.

The assembly called on Moscow to immediately stop the deportation of children to Russia, Belarus and other territories.

A member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE, MP Oleksii Honcharenko, commented by saying that “Łukašenka has been recognized as involved in the genocide of Ukrainians.”