The library did not give the child books without a deposit because he was an IDP: Lubinets appealed to Ternopil RMA to check the incident

Recently, a scandal involving an IDP in Ternopil has spread online, where her child was refused books in the regional library for children, arguing that the child was "not his own" in the city, and that the book could contain "glory to Russia". The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, reacted to the scandal and appealed to the Ternopil RMA to check the incident and take action, UNN reports.

Details

According to Lubinets, the network is spreading information about a conflict between an IDP family and the regional children's library, when a child from an IDP family was denied free and free access to books from the library's collection for temporary use.

"As a result, the child received the books only after the parents paid a bail of UAH 600. Protecting children's rights is one of the nine main areas of work of our institution. In order to respond immediately to this case, I sent a letter to the management of the Ternopil RMA to check this incident and take action," Lubinets said.

The Ombudsman emphasized that according to the law "On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons," IDPs have the same rights and freedoms as other citizens of Ukraine.

"Thus, discrimination against IDPs in any sphere is unacceptable," the Ombudsman emphasized.

Context

According to Kateryna Posokhova, a Kharkiv resident who is forced to live in Ternopil, the director of the Ternopil Regional Library for Children refused to give books to her son Svyatoslav because the child was "not his own" in Ternopil and because the book might contain "glory to Russia.

"For more than 2 years in Ternopil, Sviatoslav went to the city library near his school. He read a lot of books and had no complaints. During the next visit, the librarian advised us to go to a much larger library - the regional library. And here we learned that the child in Ternopil is "not his own", and what books can be for those who are not his own? We were billed 600 hryvnias for the 2 books we chose (old and in a shameful condition) on a subscription. It was a kind of a pledge, because they had no confidence in us. We were sincerely surprised. We heard all this stuff about "you can write 'Glory to Russia'" and "people like you have already stolen many books from us." But who are we? We are officially registered in the city, we work, we study - our child is in a local school, he has excellent results. To say that Svyat was upset is an understatement," Kateryna wrote.

The boy's mother said that after she was given the books as a pledge and came to return them, the librarian told her that they would not give them any more books without a pledge.

"We read them. We come to return the books on time, and they are intact. The first thing the librarian says is that we won't give you any more books without a deposit. Why? Talk to the director - that's what they wrote on your form. Then we had another long conversation with the director and her deputy. Again, we hear all the dogmas of the world about IDPs who cannot be trusted, no matter how long they live in Ternopil. I try to calmly appeal to the Constitution, where all citizens are equal, etc. In response, we either pay, leave, or call the police," Kateryna added.

The Ternopil Regional Library for Children also shared its position, noting that "all this dirt that is being spread on social media against our library today is an example of how easy it is to manipulate public opinion using certain information technologies and creating an artificial resonance of the event" and denying all accusations.

The library also spoke about the lending of books on a "pledge", stating that it is returned in full to the reader after the books are returned to the library, and was introduced in accordance with the "Instruction on the procedure for applying a monetary pledge in the regional library for children", which clearly spells out the rules for lending especially valuable documents and books presented in limited quantities on a monetary pledge.

According to the library management, the deposit is provided for those persons who do not have a registered permanent place of residence in the Ternopil city DH.

Recall

Recently , a scandal broke out involving Ukrainian woman Olga Podusova and her children, whom she is taking care of. The woman claims that her children were victims of violence by the staff of a Vietnamese school that had previously accepted them for study during the war in Ukraine.