The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, called on Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, the international community, and the International Criminal Court to recognize the systemic militarization of children by the Russian occupation authorities as a crime against humanity and to ensure the inevitable accountability of those responsible. The Ombudsman reported this on Telegram, according to UNN.
The militarization of Ukrainian children must be recognized as a crime against humanity! In the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, it has been ongoing for years and still remains unpunished. Tens of thousands of children are forced to grow up in a world of propaganda, fear, and imposed military narratives. What should be their inherent right to education is being turned into an instrument of aggression. Schools are becoming training grounds for war, and cadet classes instill obedience rather than childhood curiosity,
I call on the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, the international community, and the International Criminal Court to recognize the systemic militarization of children as a crime against humanity and to ensure the inevitable accountability of those responsible. Those who took childhood away from children must answer before the law,
As the Ukrainian Ombudsman noted, since 2014, the militarization of education in the TOT (temporarily occupied territories) has been covering more and more children. "According to Yale University, since February 2022, Ukrainian children have been moved to at least 210 institutions in Russia and the TOT of Ukraine. In 62% of them, children are subjected to cultural, patriotic, and military propaganda, and in 19%, military training is conducted, including combat drills, parades, and drone operation. This is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and a crime against Ukrainian children," he wrote. The Ombudsman noted that children are forced to join military and pseudo-patriotic organizations such as "Yunarmia," "Orlyata Rossii," "Voin," and "Zarnitsa 2.0." "And on February 17, the so-called 'Russian Cadet Day' was celebrated in the Luhansk region," he added.
According to him, the militarization of Ukrainian children in the TOT is currently taking on new forms. "Starting September 1, so-called 'Cossack classes' will be introduced as a mandatory part of the school curriculum for fifth-grade students in schools in temporarily occupied Donetsk, Makiivka, Dokuchaievsk, and Mariupol. These are not sporadic actions by the aggressor. This is a deliberate, well-thought-out policy and war strategy," the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights is convinced.
Currently, these actions remain without a proper legal assessment. The systemic militarization of Ukrainian children in the TOT is unprecedented in modern history. How can the world continue to remain silent in the face of this crime? Silence is complicity in a crime against children,