Naira Arutyunova, Legal Adviser at Global Rights Compliance (GRC), participated in a roundtable discussion on “Social Places of Detention During the Full-Scale Invasion: Challenges and Threats”, organised by the NGO Ukraine Without Torture with the support of DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture.
The discussion focused on the situation of residents of social care institutions located in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, including reports of their transfer to the Russian Federation and the challenges of tracing their whereabouts.
During her intervention, Naira focused on the distinction between lawful evacuation by an occupying power and unlawful deportation or forcible transfer under international humanitarian law, with a particular focus on social places of detention.
“The reports presented today record the transfer of elderly persons and residents of psychoneurological and geriatric facilities to the Russian Federation. Russian officials invoke evacuation as justification; however, evacuation under IHL is a narrow exception conditioned on strict requirements. Failure to comply with these requirements may render such displacement a war crime. These requirements are systematically disregarded in the documented cases: people are transferred under duress, deported to Russia without any notification to their relatives, and their subsequent whereabouts are nearly impossible to establish in the absence of references in Russian media.” noted Naira.
Photo credit: NGO Ukraine Without Torture