In international law, these are not just general concepts — they are serious crimes.

• Deportation — the forced transfer of people from the territory where they legally reside to another country.
• Forcible displacement — the same, but within occupied territory.

Both actions are prohibited by the Geneva Conventions and recognized as war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, especially when it comes to children.

When Russia removes Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories and places them in Russia or in institutions under its control without parental consent and without the possibility of finding the child — this is not evacuation.

This is — illegal deportation. This is — forcible displacement. And this is — unlawful.

Children have the right to their identity, family, culture, and country. To take this away by force is not protection, but a violation of international law.