Thread by @Rachel_Denber

Lavrov says 1 million Ukrainians "evacuated" to Russia.
Why might this be a war crime?
🧵

reuters.com/world/more-tha…

For some Ukrainians, going to Russia or areas of Russia-occupied Ukraine might be their genuine choice.
But for Mariupol people @hrw interviewed, this was definitely not their choice.

hrw.org/news/2022/04/2…

When they fled Mariupol, they wanted to go to other parts of Ukraine but Russian forces sent them to Russia against their will. An unknown number are in Russia, unable to leave.

One woman said, “We would have used the opportunity to go to Ukraine if we could have, for sure. But we had no choice. There was no possibility to go there.”

A woman from Mariupol who reached Zaporizhzhia in 🇺🇦said her sister got on a bus organized by 🇷🇺forces on March 26 she was told would go to Zaporizhzhia, but went to Rostov,🇷🇺, and is now in 🇷🇺's Pskov region. “We’re in touch,” she said. “But she’s scared to talk, even to me.”

Another said Russian military ordered 60 people in bomb shelter near Mariupol onto transport, which went to Russia. "It seemed I had no choice,” she said. “If I had a choice, I would’ve gone to Ukraine for sure."

The Geneva Conventions prohibit the forcible transfer or deportation of civilians from occupied territory. So what does "forcible transfer" mean?

It doesn't require putting a gun to your head. A transfer can be forcible when a person agrees because they fear consequences such as violence, duress, or detention if they remain, and the occupying army is using the coercive environment to transfer them.

Unlawful deportations or transfers are “grave breaches” of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which are war crimes.