Russia's hostilities severely impact children's rights – UN
Photo: State Emergency Service
In the three years following Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian children have faced significant trauma, including deaths, injuries, and prolonged separation from their families, profoundly disrupting their lives.
This is stated in a new report by the UN Human Rights Office, published on Friday, March 21.
"The ongoing hostilities and occupation of parts of Ukraine by the Russian Federation have caused large-scale human rights violations and inflicted unimaginable suffering on millions of children. Their rights have been undermined in every aspect of life, leaving deep scars, both physical and psychosocial," UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said.
Between 24 February 2022 and 31 December 2024, the UN Human Rights Office confirmed that 669 children were killed and 1,833 injured, many of them as a result of the widespread use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Of these:
- 521 children were killed and 1,529 injured in territory controlled by Ukraine,
- and 148 were killed and 304 injured in currently occupied territory.
The real figures are likely much higher.
As of December 2024, an estimated 737,000 children were internally displaced by the fighting. Another 1.7 million have become refugees, many of them separated from one parent, usually the father.
During the reporting period, at least 1,614 shellings destroyed or damaged schools.
Children in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are particularly vulnerable, the report notes. The UN Human Rights Office also confirmed that during the first year after the full-scale invasion, at least 200 children, many of whom were in residential institutions, were transferred to the occupied territory or the Russian Federation – actions that may qualify as war crimes.
However, without access to Russia or the occupied territory, the UN cannot fully assess the scale of these transfers.
The UN report notes that in four regions of Ukraine that were occupied by the Russian Federation in 2022, international human rights violations were rampant against children, including:
- extrajudicial executions,
- arbitrary detentions,
- war-related sexual violence,
- torture and ill-treatment.
The report emphasizes that the intentional killing of civilians is a war crime and a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions.
For reference:
Some children were forced to participate in military-patriotic training, including singing the Russian anthem, as well as studying according to the Russian school curriculum – in violation of international humanitarian law.
As reported, Russia finances a significant number of programs aimed at "re-education" of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories.
