Adolf Eichmann: “I was doing my duty… I not only obeyed orders — I obeyed the law.”

That is how Adolf Eichmann explained his actions during his trial in Jerusalem. Philosopher Hannah Arendt later described this logic in her famous book The Banality of Evil, showing how mass crimes are often not carried out by fanatics, but by ordinary people who believe they are simply “doing their job.”

The United Nations has now officially recognized the deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia as a crime against humanity.

On March 9, 2026, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that Russia’s systematic deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children constitutes a crime against humanity under international law. The findings were based on extensive documentation, witness testimony, and analysis of official records.

The commission’s report describes a pattern that has unfolded since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainian children — including orphans and children from state institutions as well as those separated from their parents during the war — have been transported from occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia or to Russian-controlled regions.

According to Ukrainian government estimates, nearly 20,000 children have been deported or forcibly transferred since the start of the invasion, although only a fraction have been successfully returned.

For years, the issue has been discussed in diplomatic language — as a humanitarian tragedy, a war crime, or a violation of international law. But the new UN report goes further. It states that the scale, coordination, and systematic nature of the deportations qualify them as crimes against humanity.

This classification carries enormous legal and moral implications.

A system, not isolated incidents

The commission found that the deportations were not random wartime evacuations but part of a coordinated policy implemented across multiple regions and institutions.........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)