Overwhelming testimonials. In a report (in English) published Thursday, September 1, Human Rights Watch accuses Russian forces and their separatist allies in the Donetsk region of being responsible for the forced displacement of civilians since the start of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, the February 24. The non-governmental organization for the defense of human rights makes these accusations after having heard the words of dozens of people who fled the fighting in the areas of Mariupol or Kharkiv, in the south and east of Ukraine, invaded by Russian troops and their separatist backers.
The NGO recalls that these forced transfers of civilians are “a serious violation of the laws of war constituting a war crime and a potential crime against humanity”. These people were forcibly moved to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine or to Russian territory itself, the organization reports. “Many of those forcibly transferred were fleeing the besieged port city of Mariupol.”
The report also documents the process of “filtering” or security check to collect “large amounts of personal data”, “including biometric data” such as fingerprints and photos, full face and profile. Body searches and interrogations about the political views of displaced Ukrainians are also blamed. The NGO finally reports the internment of certain civilians “when they were waiting to undergo this procedure”. “This is an illegal and massive data collection exercise, carried out outside Russian territory by Russian and affiliated forces, targeting non-Russians, without any legal basis”says the report.
“Russian and Russian-affiliated officials … told some civilians that they had no choice but to stay in Russian-occupied areas or go to Russia and that they should ‘forget’ to go to the territory under Ukrainian control”says the report. “While in Russia, some interviewees were pressured to sign, and saw others sign, documents indicating that they had witnessed war crimes committed by Ukrainian forces”continues the NGO.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in late June that 1.2 million Ukrainians had been forcibly taken to Russia. Human Rights Watch does not provide any figures. “The total number of Ukrainian civilians transferred to Russia, voluntarily or involuntarily, remains uncertain”warns HRW. Human Rights Watch recommends that Ukraine ratify the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court already signed by kyiv in 2000, so that perpetrators of violations of the laws of war “be the subject of an investigation and be brought to answer in court”.