How Russia violates the human rights of Ukrainian youth in the occupation: indoctrination, military propaganda, and forced change of citizenship
The Russian Federation has violated and continues to violate numerous human rights and freedoms, as well as committed war crimes against Ukrainian children. Minors are subjected to propaganda and militarization by Russian representatives, driven by a declared intent to destroy the Ukrainian people, their identity, and their right to independent development.
Russian policy on the re-education
In the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Russian authorities are enforcing the Russian curriculum and books with a rewritten historical narrative that is fundamentally different from the Ukrainian version. These actions raise concerns regarding the violation of international norms, particularly those protecting the right to education and cultural identity of Ukrainian children.
Russia is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter – CRC). Articles 28 and 29 provide that States Parties must recognize the right of the child to education and ensure that education fosters respect for the cultural identity, language, and values of the child’s country of origin. International human rights standards also prohibit an occupying power from making unnecessary changes to laws in the occupied territory, including those governing education.
Firstly, Russian occupation authorities are systematically suppressing the Ukrainian language and curriculum in schools, instead imposing a Russian curriculum filled with anti-Ukrainian propaganda, reports Human Rights Watch. For example, the schools are provided with history textbooks that justify Russia’s invasion and portray Ukraine under its current government as a neo-Nazi state. Children in these occupied areas are forced to receive military training as part of the education program. The Russian government requires secondary schools in the occupied territory of Ukraine to provide the names of students over the age of 18 who are seen as suitable for conscription into the Russian armed forces. These actions are in direct conflict with their right to education that respects their cultural identity, language, and national values. Similarly, in occupied Crimea, children and their teachers were coerced to write letters to Russian soldiers. According to the Crimean Discourse initiative, Crimean schoolchildren who refuse to comply with this may face the threat of having lower grades that others. This violates the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (hereinafter — Geneva Convention (IV)), which in Article 50 requires the occupying power to support children’s educational institutions in cooperation with local authorities.
Secondly, around 20,000 Ukrainian children have been relocated to Russian camps since the full-scale invasion in 2022. In these camps, children “find themselves in an entirely pro-Russian environment … exposed to a pro-Russian information campaign often amounting to targeted re-education”, as reported by the OSCE. Former camp attendees recall being constantly monitored and only allowed outside under strict supervision, as well as being frequently punished for unclear reasons.
Similar reports of Ukrainian children being bullied and ill-treated in Russian camps were issued by The Independent. Over 70 such camps have been established in Belarus, occupied Crimea, and Russia, which further illustrates the scale of this forced indoctrination. In such camps, children are banned from everything Ukrainian.
Forced deportation and adoption of Ukrainian children
According to Articles 7 and 8 of the CRC, every child has the right to acquire a nationality, and states must ensure this right is protected. Changing children’s family or personal status, including nationality or civil status, is prohibited by Article 50 of the Geneva Convention (IV). These rules provide that the child’s citizenship is ensured under national legislation and the state’s obligations under relevant international treaties. This includes respecting the child’s right to preserve their identity, including nationality, name, and family relations, as recognized by law, without unlawful interference.
In practice, the Russian Federation has violated these international obligations by several means. One of them is Decree No. 11 On Determining Certain Categories of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons Who Have the Right to Apply for Russian Citizenship, dated January 4, 2024. It provides legal grounds for granting Russian citizenship to Ukrainian children without taking into account the child’s opinion. Such provision shows that Russia has resorted to the forced evacuation and removal of Ukrainian children, including orphans and those whose parents are deceased or unaccounted for, to Russian territory. These children have been integrated into Russian society without any alternative options and without consideration of their right to maintain their Ukrainian nationality and identity.
Prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan of the International Criminal Court reports that hundreds of children from orphanages and care homes have been deported and allegedly adopted in Russia. Changes in Russian law, including Presidential decrees by Putin, make it easier for them to be adopted by Russian families. Investigations reveal that it is extremely difficult to analyze these cases due to the secrecy surrounding adoption processes and the challenges in registering Ukrainian children.
Ukrainian citizens abducted from occupied Ukrainian territories, including from Ukrainian orphanages, are being found in Russia, where they are added to a website for adoption. Some of these children had their names and dates of birth changed, and not even one was mentioned to have Ukrainian roots. Infants and children with disabilities were reportedly renamed in Russian passports, stripping them of their Ukrainian identity and rights. The New York Times investigation found that some of these children still have parents in Ukraine. This breaches Article 50 of the Geneva Convention (IV), which prohibits the occupying power from changing a child’s status, including those separated from their parents.
In January 2024, concerns about these practices intensified when President Putin signed a decree accelerating the process of granting Russian citizenship to orphans and children deprived of parental care who are citizens of Ukraine. This decree allows these children to acquire Russian citizenship through a personal decision by the President, further entrenching the loss of their Ukrainian nationality and identity.
Russian youth movements as a tool for re-education and militarization of Ukrainian children
A special role in the enforcement of Russian propaganda is played by the youth organizations the Russian administration has created, such as the Movement of the First and the Yunarmia (Russian: Young army). Article 50 of the Geneva Convention (IV) strictly prohibits the enlistment of children from the occupied territories in organizations subordinate to the occupying power. This provision is made to prevent a repeat of the pattern seen during World War II when a lot of children were enrolled in youth organizations and movements promoting political goals.
Acting similarly to what Germany did during World War II, Russia uses youth organizations to spread its propaganda among children. Both Movement of the First and Yunarmia are state-run organizations. The former was created in 2022 by a specific Russian Federal Law, and its supervisory board is headed personally by Vladimir Putin. Yunarmia, which faces sanctions from Ukraine, the EU, and Canada, is supervised jointly by the Russian ministries of defense, culture, and education.
There are more than 56 thousand Ukrainian children and teenagers from the occupied territories of Ukraine involved in the Movement of the First. This includes 21 thousand children in the Luhansk region, 15 thousand in the Donetsk region, 12 thousand in Crimea, and 4 thousand in Kherson and Zaporizhia regions respectively, according to the data provided by Russian officials. Similarly, more than 35 thousand Ukrainian children are taking part in Yunarmia, according to the Centre for Civic Education Almenda. The Russian media constantly report the opening of new branches of these organizations in the occupied regions of Ukraine.
Both Movement of the First and Yunarmia “promote the implementation of the state youth policy” of Russia, as stated in their Charters. The Movement of the First seeks to shape children’s views around Russian spiritual and moral values while fostering love and respect for Russia. Similarly, Yunarmia aims to elevate the prestige of military service, preserve and enhance patriotic traditions, and prepare young people for the defense of the Motherland.
These are not the only Russian youth organizations to have a military focus. In the occupied Zaporizhia region, the city administration had transformed the building of the Word of Life Evangelical Church into a base for the pro-Russian youth movement Yug Molodoy, which is focused on militarizing Ukrainian children. They removed the cross and painted the facade with murals depicting the Russian military.
There is substantial documented evidence showing that Russian state-controlled organizations actively involve Ukrainian minors in carrying out politics of the Russian authorities, a serious breach of Article 50 of the Geneva Convention (IV).
Russian military propaganda for children in the occupied territories
The Russian authorities use false information to promote Yunarmia’s political cause, which goes against international rules. In particular, Article 51 of the Geneva Convention (IV) prohibits any pressure or propaganda aimed at securing voluntary enlistment in the army of occupying Power. And Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, under which any propaganda for war is prohibited.
In Yunarmia, children are taught to honor the heroes of the “Special Military Operation” – this is what they still call the war in Ukraine after two years of full-scale military aggression. Members of Yunarmia are trained to shoot, provide medical assistance, and use a map, as well as encouraged to participate in contests and games aimed at imitating hostilities. Under the direction of Russian tutors, little Ukrainians receive instruction in drills, weapons, and tactics. Russia has made the militarization of minors a very important part of its military agenda. Such actions constitute acts of preparation and agitation for children to join the Russian army when they reach the age of 18, which contradicts Article 51 of the Geneva Convention (IV).
In 2023, Russian media reported about 53 graduates of Yunarmia units operating in occupied Crimea, who voluntarily joined the Russian army in the war against Ukraine. One of these graduates, Ivan Zozulsky, describes the role of the Yunarmia in his decision to participate in Russia’s full-scale invasion as follows: “The knowledge I received in Yunarmia movement helped me to get used to it [hostilities] more quickly, and somewhere I was already used to it because in the Yunarmia the discipline is above all”.
Russia is attempting to cut off any connection Ukrainian children have with their home country. Its disregard for the rights of children from the occupied Ukraine, where it is obliged to guarantee the observance of fundamental rights and freedoms, violates a number of international law rules. The numerous documented evidence shows Russian authorities limiting children’s right to education, forcibly converting children to Russian citizenship, war propaganda in schools, forced deportation of children, and preparing children to join the Russian army upon reaching adulthood. These are all attempts to erase the national identity of young Ukrainians, which is evidence of Russia’s genocidal policy toward Ukraine.
To stop the suffering of Ukrainian children, constant attention and pressure from the international community and civil society around the world are needed. Only together we can make changes.
Author: Anastasiia Sheremok and Hryhorii Turshukov
Anastasiia Sheremok, CCL intern, LLB at the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University (International Law and Ukrainian-English translation). Ongoing Master’s program at the KU Leuven in Public European Law. Anastasiia is majoring in international law and has a strong interest in global affairs, research and academic writing. Anastasiia’s long-term objective is to enhance justice in Ukraine and elevate its international standing by strengthening legal institutions and pursuing cases in international courts.
In the summer of 2024, Ms Sheremok assisted the Center by preparing analyses and drafting papers on various topics of international law.
Hryhorii Turshukov, CCL intern, LLB at the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University (International Law and Ukrainian-German translation). Ongoing Master’s program at the KU Leuven in Public International and European Law. Hryhorii has research and professional interests in international humanitarian, criminal and environmental law. Hryhorii has internship experience in a number of Ukrainian government agencies, where he focused on European integration and the rule of law in Ukraine. In the long term perspective, Hryhorii aims to contribute to prosecution of those responsible for war crimes on Ukrainian territory, and to ensure fair compensation for damages to Ukrainian citizens and environment.
