Unlawful Deportations and Transfers

This legal brief aims at providing an overview of the rules of international humanitarian law pertinent to the arrest warrants issued on 17 March 2023 by the International Criminal Court against Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the President of the Russian Federation. Through a series of questions and answers, this brief seeks to clarify rules related to the prohibition of transfers and deportations of civilians from occupied territories, the differences between forcible transfers/deportations and evacuations, and the special protection afforded to children in this regard.