On Thursday 12 March, in a joint resolution adopted by 479 votes to 17 with 43 abstentions, MEPs called on the EU and its Member States to impose targeted sanctions on the individuals and entities responsible for trafficking and recruiting foreign nationals into the Russian army, particularly from Africa, South Asia and Cuba, to fight in Ukraine.
These practices, like labour exploitation in the context of war, “are grave violations of e human rights and international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity”, warn MEPs.
The European Parliament demands that Russia put an immediate end to these recruitment practices and guarantee the unconditional repatriation of those recruited in a deceptive manner. It also urges the states concerned to combat this phenomenon. In its view, social media platforms should remove content used by Russian-linked networks engaged in these deceptive recruitment practices and human trafficking.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/l51 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)