Restrictions and violations of children’s rights under martial law in Ukraine

Abstract

The scientific article examines the issues of restrictions and violations of children’s rights in the conditions of martial law in Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the analysis of existing problems of protecting children’s rights as a result of Russia’s armed aggression, which are observed on the territory of Ukraine in those regions that are relatively safe, in temporarily occupied territories and those territories that are in the combat zone.
From the analysis of constitutional norms that enshrine the rights and freedoms of man and citizen that may be subject to restrictions in the conditions of martial law, it is concluded that children are directly affected by possible restrictions on the right to education.
A list of the main international regulatory legal acts aimed at regulating the problems of protecting children and their rights in situations of armed conflict is outlined. At the national level, the key regulatory legal act that regulates the situation with children in conditions of armed conflict is the Law of Ukraine «On the Protection of Childhood».
A range of children’s rights that are violated in the conditions of martial law in Ukraine is established. These include: murder and mutilation; recruitment of children into the enemy’s armed forces and use in hostilities; rape and other forms of sexual violence; kidnapping; attacks on schools and hospitals; denial of access to humanitarian aid. Examples of criminal acts committed by the Russian Federation against children since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine are given.
It is argued that under martial law, the number of stressful situations, depressions, anxiety states, and other psychological problems among children has also increased, caused by various manifestations of Russian terrorism; under the current conditions of power outages, the number of cases of domestic violence is increasing.
It is concluded that ensuring security is a priority task under martial law, and also serves as a guarantee of the realization of the child’s rights to life, health, education, etc.