Christians voice ‘grave concern’ after UN inquiry finds Ukrainian children were deported and forcibly transferred

The World Council of Churches has expressed “grave concern” after a United Nations commission concluded that Russian authorities have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes by deporting and forcibly relocating Ukrainian children.

In a press release responding to the findings, WCC general secretary Rev Prof Dr Jerry Pillay said the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine “confront[s] the conscience of the entire international community”.

He said the reported removal of kids from Ukrainian territory under Russian occupation, and their everlasting settlement in Russia, amounted to a profound moral outrage.

“These actions are a shocking violation of the God-given dignity of each child and of the sanctity of family bonds,” Prof Pillay wrote.

“The deliberate removal and relocation of kids for political or ideological purposes is fundamentally incompatible with international law, morality and Christian values, which call us to guard the smallest and most vulnerable amongst us.

“Such actions deprive children of their families, language, culture, and homeland, inflicting deep psychological and spiritual harm,” he added.

The Commission’s latest report, submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, centres on its most serious finding: the deportation or transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation or to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

It said it had gathered “compelling evidence regarding the deportation and transfer of a complete of 1,205 children from five oblasts in Ukraine”, leading it to conclude that “these acts amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes of deportation and forcible transfer of kids”.

The report goes further, saying Russian authorities also committed “the crime against humanity … of enforced disappearance” in relation to children, in addition to the war crime of “unjustifiable delay of their repatriation.”

According to the Commission, Russian authorities systematically withheld information concerning the children’s whereabouts from parents and legal guardians, while keeping them in “a coercive environment obstructing their return.”

Rather than making a process to reunite children with their families, the report said officials pursued their “long-term placement with families or in institutions within the Russian Federation.”

It noted that every one through 2022, Russian authorities said adoption was their favoured plan of action.

The consequences have been devastating. In the cases examined by the Commission, 80% of the youngsters had not been returned.

Parents and guardians in lots of cases still have no idea where their children are, while those that have managed to secure returns have faced delays, bureaucratic obstacles and dangers.

This has that left many families still trying to search out them years later.

One child who returned to Ukraine told investigators: “I used to be sad, I used to be scared. I nervous that I’d need to live within the Russian Federation.”

The Commission’s report reflects a wider investigation into abuses perpetrated since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It said its work had been guided by “independence, impartiality, objectivity, integrity, in addition to a victim-centred approach.”

The inquiry has interviewed 2,433 people and made 27 visits to Ukraine since its founding.

It said Ukraine had cooperated with its work, while Russia didn’t recognise the Commission and rejected 39 written requests for meetings, information and access.

Beyond the findings on children, the report documented a broad range of alleged violations by Russian authorities.

These included trials in Russian courts and in occupied parts of Ukraine that, the Commission said, stripped civilians and prisoners of war their right to basic fair trial guarantees.

It found evidence that accusations were supported by material fabricated or extracted under torture or ill-treatment, while courts ignored the presumption of innocence, the best to defence and other core protections.

The Commission stated that such proceedings amounted to serious violations of international humanitarian law and subsequently constituted war crimes.

It also reported ongoing sexual violence in several occupied or contested regions, with victims starting from children to adults, and said survivors had suffered deep physical and psychological trauma.

In one other strand of the investigation, the Commission examined the recruitment of foreign nationals from 17 countries into the Russian armed forces.

Many, it said, had been deceived by pledges of civilian work or other financial opportunities, only to be coerced into signing Russian-language contracts they didn’t understand and sent into dangerous frontline roles.

The report also drew on interviews with 85 former Russian soldiers who had deserted.

Their testimony described beatings, shootings, mock executions, confinement in pits or cages, and other violent punishments utilized by commanders against subordinates.

The accounts, the Commission said, showed “a complete disregard for human life and dignity” and suggested that violence contained in the Russian armed forces was each “widespread and systematic.”

While many of the report’s strongest conclusions concerned Russian conduct, the Commission also raised concerns about Ukraine.

It said the country’s criminal offence of “collaborative activities” was drafted too broadly, creating legal uncertainty and risking the punishment of people that had carried out essential civilian services in occupied areas.

It also recorded alleged abuses linked to mobilisation for the Ukrainian armed forces, including irregular detention, lack of access to lawyers, rushed medical examinations and violence against conscientious objectors.

In its conclusions, the Commission said it remained deeply troubled by “the big range of crimes and violations it has investigated, and at their effects on the victims and their families.”

It warned that the crimes committed against children particularly would have “irreversible consequences on their lives and their future”.

It also stressed the necessity for a victim-centred response, saying those affected had urgent needs including psychological care, housing, reintegration aid and medical treatment.

“Both judicial and non-judicial accountability are key to supply much needed relief,” it said.

The Commission said recommendations from its previous reports remained in force.

In this latest report, those recommendations included calls on Russia to stop prosecuting prisoners of war for lawful combat, end torture, uphold fair trial rights, prevent sexual violence, halt deceptive foreign recruitment and end internal military abuses.

Ukraine was urged to narrow its “collaborative activities” law, improve mobilisation procedures and ensure legal protections for those detained or objecting to service.

The international community, meanwhile, was asked to strengthen monitoring, expand humanitarian support for affected families and back survivor-centred programmes for victims coming back from detention or displacement.

Prof Pillay said the WCC stood in “profound solidarity” with affected children and their families and called on the Russian authorities to supply “the transparency and accountability that a report of this seriousness demands, putting the most effective interests of every child first.”