Experts present Moscow Mechanism report on Ukrainian children to OSCE Permanent Council

The OSCE Moscow Mechanism mission of experts presented the findings of their “Report on Violations and Abuses of International Humanitarian, Human Rights and Criminal Law related to Militarization and Indoctrination of Ukrainian Children by the Russian Federation” to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on 9 July 2026.

The three independent experts – Professor Hervé Ascensio, Dr. Elīna Šteinerte and Professor Stefan Wolff – were selected after 41 OSCE participating States, following consultation with Ukraine, invoked the Mechanism on 14 May 2026 “in relation to the militarization and indoctrination of Ukrainian children by the Russian Federation”. The full text of the report is available here.

The Mechanism, established by all OSCE participating States in 1991, allows for one or more participating States to request the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to “inquire of another participating State whether it would agree to invite a mission of experts to address a particular, clearly defined question on its territory relating to the human dimension”.

The Permanent Council is one of the OSCE’s main decision-making bodies, and convenes each week in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and make decisions on future activities.

The experts were tasked to “build upon previous findings, and to: 

1. Establish the facts and circumstances surrounding possible contraventions of relevant OSCE commitments, and violations and abuses of IHRL and IHL, related to the militarization and indoctrination of Ukrainian children by the Russian Federation, including in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and including in the context of forcible transfer and/or unlawful deportation; 
2. Collect, consolidate and analyse information on these practices, including patterns of coercion, intimidation, repression, unlawful deprivation of liberty, illegal adoptions, ill-treatment, and other forms of violence affecting children;
3. Further, collect, consolidate and analyse information on the legislative framework adopted by Russia for this purpose, and the school curricula imposed on Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories;
4. Assess whether such practices indicate a coordinated and systematic policy aimed, inter alia, at erasing Ukrainian identity of children, including through their illegal adoptions as well as alteration of their nationality, and conditioning children for service to the occupying power;
5. Assess the impact of these practices on the rights of Ukrainian children, including the rights to life and development, health, education, family life, equality and non-discrimination, and protection from all forms of violence, and provide recommendations on urgent protective measures, prevention, and accountability pathways;
6. Offer recommendations on relevant accountability mechanisms, including how OSCE participating States and OSCE institutions can support documentation, child protection, return and reintegration efforts, and international co-operation to end impunity for crimes against children.”