Overview
- Independent experts presenting their findings to the OSCE Permanent Council on July 9 concluded that Russia has established a coordinated, state-level system targeting children in Crimea and Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine that places about 1.6 million young people at risk.
- The report documents how education, youth organisations, religious bodies and security agencies are used to erase Ukrainian identity through forced transfers, imposed citizenship, adoptions, Russified curricula and organised military-patriotic training.
- Experts recorded training camps, weapons and drone-handling classes for children and several cases of young adults being drafted and sent to the front, and they state that Russia did not cooperate with the investigation.
- The mission concluded these practices breach international humanitarian and human rights law and may amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes, and it urges immediate cessation of indoctrination, safe return of deported children, restoration of identity and international access.
- Ukraine’s registry recorded 20,610 children deported or forcibly transferred with about 2,274 returns as of June 1, and states including the UK and Latvia have called for the report’s evidence to inform courts, targeted sanctions, humanitarian corridors and funding for reintegration and rehabilitation.