Legal Definitions - unlawful deportation and transfer

Unlawful deportation and transfer refers to a grave violation of international law, specifically a war crime, which involves the forced movement of protected individuals during an international armed conflict.

This crime occurs when a person or group is forcibly removed from their homes or usual place of residence and moved to another state or a different location within the same state, without legitimate military necessity and in violation of international humanitarian law. The victims must be individuals who are protected under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, such as civilians or prisoners of war, and the act must take place in the context of an international armed conflict.

Here are some examples illustrating unlawful deportation and transfer:

• During an international armed conflict, the military forces of Country A occupy a region of Country B. Without any genuine security justification, the occupying forces systematically round up thousands of civilians from their towns and villages and forcibly transport them across the border into a neighboring third country, leaving them stranded there. This action constitutes unlawful deportation because protected civilians were forcibly moved to another state during an international armed conflict.

• In the midst of an international armed conflict, an occupying power forcibly evacuates the entire population of a coastal town, which is not a military target, and relocates them to a remote, uninhabitable desert camp hundreds of miles away within the same occupied territory. The relocation is not temporary and serves no immediate military purpose, effectively displacing them permanently. This is an unlawful transfer because protected civilians were forcibly moved to a different, unsuitable location within the occupied territory during an international armed conflict.

• An army engaged in an international conflict identifies a specific ethnic minority group residing in an area it controls. Despite no evidence of their involvement in hostilities, the army systematically gathers members of this group, confiscates their property, and transports them by force to a distant internment camp, intending to prevent their return to their ancestral lands. This act represents unlawful transfer, as it involves the forced relocation of a protected group within an international armed conflict context, without military necessity.