Vladyslav Buryak was in Russian captivity for 3 months. He tells about torture. PHOTO: CHILDREN OF WAR

Features Childhood in the conditions of war. The Ukrainian experience

The war crimes committed by the Russian Federation against Ukrainian children include physical harm (murders, injury, mutilation, child abuse, rape), violations of the rule of law (illegal imprisonment; denial of children’s rights to education, security, and access to humanitarian support; abduction; illegal transfer to custody), psychological damage, destruction of educational institutions’ resources, and using children for propaganda and military purposes.

Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2023:4, p4-12
Published on balticworlds.com on December 11, 2023

“Children are one of the largest and most vulnerable categories of the civilian population, who are drawn into the conflict against their will and suffer war injuries of varying degrees and severity. The war unleashed by the Russian Federation not only inevitably steals the happiest time of Ukrainian youth, but also poses risks to life and health, and violates many children’s rights and freedoms.

The war crimes committed by the Russian Federation against Ukrainian children include physical harm (murders, injury, mutilation, child abuse, rape), violations of the rule of law (illegal imprisonment; denial of children’s rights to education, security, and access to humanitarian support; abduction; illegal transfer to custody), psychological damage, destruction of educational institutions’ resources, and using children for propaganda and military purposes. All these factors create enormous challenges for children and their parents in the context of future choices to ensure better living conditions and security. These are not only the issues of individual families but also a significant challenge for the government of Ukraine, which should already form a vision for the integration and reintegration of children into the post-war peaceful Ukrainian environment, taking into account their interests in the processes of post-conflict development and reconstruction of the state.”

Read the full article as pdf.

Anastasiia Chupis