The impact of the armed conflict and occupation on children’s rights in Ukraine, 24 February 2022 — 31 December 2024
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. This report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describes widespread violations of the rights of the child in the context of prolonged hostilities and occupation following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. It 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 (HRMMU).
2. The extensive use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas has killed and injured children, and damaged or destroyed homes, schools, medical facilities, and electricity infrastructure. The continuous hostilities have disrupted essential services for children and driven displacement, undermining children’s enjoyment of their rights to health, housing, education, family life, and an adequate standard of living, among others. Furthermore, Ukraine now has one of the highest prevalence of explosive remnants of war and landmines globally, which will likely cause continuing casualties among children in particular far into the future.
3. In the four regions of Ukraine that were illegally annexed by the Russian Federation in 2022, children have been particularly affected by violations of international human rights law (IHRL) and international humanitarian law (IHL), including summary executions, arbitrary detention, conflict-related sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment.1 Some children were deported from or forcibly transferred within occupied territory, particularly in the months following the full-scale invasion. Without access to the Russian Federation or occupied territory of Ukraine, OHCHR has not been able to fully assess the scale of these transfers and deportations, however has been able to verify that at least 200 children have been affected by these measures.
4. Discriminatory policies implemented by the Russian Federation in occupied territory have compelled children to obtain Russian citizenship, express allegiance to the Russian Federation, and attend schools teaching the Russian state curriculum. The curriculum includes lessons that justify the full-scale invasion and fail to respect Ukrainian cultural identity. The Russian Federation instated patriotic and military education aimed to prepare children in occupied territory for military or civil service in Russian state institutions. Occupying authorities have threatened or punished children and their parents for speaking Ukrainian or attending online school following the Ukrainian curriculum. These measures violate the obligations of the Russian Federation as an occupying Power under IHL, as well as provisions of IHRL.
1 The report focuses on territory newly occupied by the Russian Federation in 2022 and after. Information on the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine (Crimea) can be found in previous OHCHR reports, for example Ten Years of Occupation by the Russian Federation: Human Rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine.
