- A UN-backed committee focused on children’s rights called on Russia to stop school textbooks from being altered to serve political or military purposes.
- The Committee on the Rights of the Child held the hearing in Geneva as part of the periodic review given to all United Nations member states.
- The commission last examined Russia’s children’s rights record 10 years ago, prompting an investigation into war crimes allegations against President Vladimir Putin.
A U.N.-backed panel of experts focused on children’s human rights on Thursday ordered Russia to change its school curriculum and textbooks to reflect its government’s “political and military policies,” including the war in Ukraine. called for blocking efforts to rewrite the .
The Committee on the Rights of the Child held two days of hearings in Geneva last month before announcing its findings on the situation in Russia. The review was conducted as part of the periodic review that all United Nations member states undergo.
Commission Vice-President Blagi Gudbrandsson said the commission had highlighted the killing and injury of hundreds of children in Ukraine in “indiscriminate attacks” by Russia using explosives. He cited as an example the measures to strip deported Ukrainian children of their nationality and give them Russian citizenship.
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The Ukrainian government and “other sources” suggest about 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported, but exact numbers are difficult to determine, he said. “Russia denied this,” he added.
At a press conference at the United Nations European Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 8, 2024, a UN-backed panel of experts presented its findings on Bulgaria, Congo, Lithuania, Russia, Senegal and South Africa. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone, via AP)
“Our conclusion is that there is evidence of forced transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia,” said Gudbrandsson, former director of the Icelandic Child Protection Agency.
Russian officials attended the committee’s hearings on January 22-23. The Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press, but said it expected a response from Moscow.
A committee of 18 independent experts last examined Russia’s record on children’s rights 10 years ago. He also called on the Russian government to investigate allegations of war crimes against President Vladimir Putin’s children’s rights commissioner.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Putin and his Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Rybova-Belova for kidnapping children from Ukraine.
In its concluding observations, the UN commission said it was “deeply concerned” by Lviva-Belova’s alleged culpability and called on Russian authorities to “investigate the alleged war crimes” committed by her. She did not address the allegations against Putin.
Following President Putin’s order for the Russian military to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Russian government has faced international international controversy over the deportation of Ukrainian families, including children, to Russia. exposed to severe criticism. Interference by Putin’s ruling party in schools and policies that positively impact Russia’s war effort.
A Russian delegation led by Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko denied at a hearing last month that Ukrainians had been forcibly expelled from their country. He said 4.8 million residents of Ukraine, including 770,000 children, were taken to Russia.
The commission also condemned the alleged “widespread and systematic state propaganda about the Ukraine war in schools,” including through the publication of new history textbooks and new training manuals to teach the government’s position on the conflict. .
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The UN committee called on authorities to “thwart all attempts to rewrite school curricula and textbooks to reflect the government’s political and military agenda.”
Committee chairwoman Anne Skelton said the committee was focused on the “politicization and militarization of schools” and said: “This is a huge risk for the future of these children who are basically being brainwashed. “We think this is a very big risk,” he added. ”
The committee also expressed concern about sexual and other violence by Russian soldiers against children in Ukraine. Last year, the United Nations added Russia to its blacklist of countries that violate children’s rights in conflict, citing attacks on schools and hospitals in Ukraine that left boys and girls dead.
During the January hearing, the committee also considered children’s rights in Bulgaria, Congo, Lithuania, Senegal and South Africa.
