The impact of armed conflict and occupation on children's rights in Ukraine, February 24, 2022 - December 31, 2024
Source: OHCHR
SUMMARY
1. In this report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describes widespread violations of children’s rights amid ongoing hostilities and occupation following the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The report covers the period from 24 February 2022 to 31 December 2024 and is based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (UNHRMMU).
2. The widespread use of explosive weapons with a large blast radius in densely populated areas has resulted in deaths and injuries among children, as well as damage to or destruction of residential buildings, schools, medical facilities, and energy infrastructure. Ongoing hostilities have disrupted the provision of essential services for children and caused population displacement, seriously undermining the realization of their rights, including the rights to health, housing, education, family life, and an adequate standard of living. Furthermore, Ukraine is currently one of the most heavily contaminated territories in the world with explosive remnants of war and landmines, which is likely to continue causing further casualties among children in the future.
3. Children in the four regions of Ukraine that were illegally annexed by the Russian Federation in 2022 have been particularly affected by violations of international human rights law (IHL) and international humanitarian law (IHL), including extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, conflict-related sexual violence, torture, and ill-treatment.1 Some children were deported from or forcibly displaced within the occupied territory within a few months of the start of the full-scale invasion. Since OHCHR did not have access to the Russian Federation or the occupied territory of Ukraine, the organization was unable to fully assess the scale of these displacements and deportations, but was able to confirm that at least 200 children were victims of such actions.
4. The Russian Federation’s discriminatory policies in the occupied territory force children to obtain Russian citizenship, swear allegiance to the Russian Federation, and study under the Russian educational curriculum. This curriculum includes lessons that justify the full-scale invasion and disparage Ukrainian cultural identity. The Russian Federation has introduced a system of patriotic and military training, preparing children for future service in the army or in Russian government agencies. The occupying authorities threaten or punish children and their parents for using the Ukrainian language or for attending online schools that offer a Ukrainian educational curriculum. Such actions violate the Russian Federation’s obligations as an occupying power under IHL and the ICCPR.
1 This report focuses on the territory occupied by the Russian Federation in 2022 and thereafter. Information on the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine (Crimea), can be found in previous OHCHR reports, such as “Ten Years of Occupation by the Russian Federation: Human Rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol, Ukraine.”
View document ➚
SUMMARY
1. In this report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describes widespread violations of children’s rights amid ongoing hostilities and occupation following the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The report covers the period from 24 February 2022 to 31 December 2024 and is based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (UNHRMMU).
2. The widespread use of explosive weapons with a large blast radius in densely populated areas has resulted in deaths and injuries among children, as well as damage to or destruction of residential buildings, schools, medical facilities, and energy infrastructure. Ongoing hostilities have disrupted the provision of essential services for children and caused population displacement, seriously undermining the realization of their rights, including the rights to health, housing, education, family life, and an adequate standard of living. Furthermore, Ukraine is currently one of the most heavily contaminated territories in the world with explosive remnants of war and landmines, which is likely to continue causing further casualties among children in the future.
3. Children in the four regions of Ukraine that were illegally annexed by the Russian Federation in 2022 have been particularly affected by violations of international human rights law (IHL) and international humanitarian law (IHL), including extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, conflict-related sexual violence, torture, and ill-treatment.1 Some children were deported from or forcibly displaced within the occupied territory within a few months of the start of the full-scale invasion. Since OHCHR did not have access to the Russian Federation or the occupied territory of Ukraine, the organization was unable to fully assess the scale of these displacements and deportations, but was able to confirm that at least 200 children were victims of such actions.
4. The Russian Federation’s discriminatory policies in the occupied territory force children to obtain Russian citizenship, swear allegiance to the Russian Federation, and study under the Russian educational curriculum. This curriculum includes lessons that justify the full-scale invasion and disparage Ukrainian cultural identity. The Russian Federation has introduced a system of patriotic and military training, preparing children for future service in the army or in Russian government agencies. The occupying authorities threaten or punish children and their parents for using the Ukrainian language or for attending online schools that offer a Ukrainian educational curriculum. Such actions violate the Russian Federation’s obligations as an occupying power under IHL and the ICCPR.
1 This report focuses on the territory occupied by the Russian Federation in 2022 and thereafter. Information on the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine (Crimea), can be found in previous OHCHR reports, such as “Ten Years of Occupation by the Russian Federation: Human Rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol, Ukraine.”
View document ➚
This is an automatic translation generated by DeepL.