Legal advice

Military registration of teenagers: what parents need to know

The age of 16 is not only the time of school exams and the first serious decisions, but also the moment when teenagers must register for the military. In today’s environment, when every aspect of society is subject to change, it is important to understand new rules and requirements that may affect even the youngest citizens. Military registration of teenagers, a topic that raises many questions for parents, is becoming even more relevant today.

What does military registration mean for young Ukrainians? What rights and responsibilities do parents have in this process? Lawyers from the “Repeshko and Partners” Bar Association commented on the key aspects of military registration of teenagers to help parents better understand their roles and responsibilities in this important stage of their children’s lives.

Currently, there is no field of law that changes as quickly and dynamically as the field of military law. Lawyers did not have time to master the changes that appeared in the spring of 2024 in the mobilization legislation, as many changes are being made to them in turn.

Against the background of discussions about whether it is necessary to lower the age of persons subject to mobilization, the state demanded at least to list its future military potential. Dizzy from the last warm summer days and enjoying the last vacations, the citizens almost missed the last unexpected news related to military registration. In the last couple of years, among the parents of teenage boys, the question to each other has been relevant: “Well, are you going to leave or stay?”.  After the 9th and 11th grades, many parents sent their boys to live abroad, if not to study. Just in case. Taking into account the adopted legislative changes, the voiced issue becomes even more urgent.

On August 16, 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted resolution No. 932 “On the implementation of an experimental project on automatic verification and verification of information about conscripts, conscripts and reservists”, which implemented an experimental project consisting of the following components:

  • Filling the Register with information about conscripts, conscripts and reservists.
  • Algorithm of remote military registration of conscripts, which, by the way, does not apply to everyone.
  • Issuance of documents for those men – citizens of Ukraine aged 18 to 25 who are abroad.

As for filling the Register with information about conscripts, conscripts and reservists, according to the plan of government officials, the process should take place as follows:

By September 5, 2024, the State Migration Service must compile a list of information on male citizens of Ukraine aged 16 to 60, which must include:

  1. surname, first name, patronymic (if available);
  2. date of birth;
  3. become;
  4. place of residence and place of residence;
  5. details of a passport of a citizen of Ukraine or a document entitling a citizen of Ukraine to travel abroad (series and/or number, date of issue, issuing body, validity period);
  6. unique record number in the Unified State Demographic Register (if available);
  7. registration number of the taxpayer’s account card (if available);
  8. information on the preparation of documents for going abroad for permanent residence or leaving for permanent residence abroad, or returning to Ukraine;
  9. information about the date of the last trip outside Ukraine;
  10. information about the death or declaration of a person as a deceased person;
  11. RNOKPP (the so-called identification code);
  12. information about the state registration of death, if there was one.
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The State Migration Service forwards the specified list to the Administration of the State Border Service, which processes the list within 10 calendar days and supplements it with the following information: information about the date of departure from Ukraine (only for those citizens who crossed the state border and did not return to Ukraine).

Then the Administration of the State Border Guard transfers the register to the Ministry of Defense, which in turn, within 7 days from the date of receipt of the specified information, organizes the entry of relevant entries into the Unified State Register of conscripts, conscripts and reservists.

If everything goes according to plan, the final formation of the register should take place approximately on September 22, 2024.

The main clause of the said resolution reads as follows:

“The State Migration Service, within 10 working days from the date of entry into force of this resolution, must ensure the formation of a list of male citizens of Ukraine aged 16 to 60, whose information is subject to entry into the Unified State Register of conscripts, conscripts and reservists, taking into account the information of the Unified State Demographic register and the departmental information system of the State Migration Service, and transfer the information to the Administration of the State Border Service”.

In practice, this means that boys between the ages of 16 and 25 who live in Ukraine and apply for a passport will be entered in the Unified State Register of Conscripts, Conscripts and Reservists (EDRPVR) without passing the VLK. This also fully applies to those who are abroad and apply for registration or obtaining a passport at Ukrainian missions abroad.

According to the current privileges, a young man acquires the status of a conscript at the age of sixteen – in the year when he should turn seventeen. In the TCC, the young man is issued his first military registration document – a registration certificate. He will be a conscript until he is 27 years old. Those who have already turned 16 years old, namely the age category from 17 to 25 years old, must be registered for military registration without passing a military medical commission (MMC). The above applies to both those who live in Ukraine and those who are abroad.

A young man can safely travel abroad until he turns 18. Even if his birthday is tomorrow, he can still leave today. However, since the beginning of the 18th year, he will not be able to cross the borders of Ukraine, even if he studies abroad. It should be borne in mind that for adult men who are abroad, between the ages of 18 and 60, when applying for Ukrainian or foreign passports, they will undergo verification of the validity of their military registration documents through the state electronic system “Trembita”. Therefore, in the case of a male teenager going abroad, the issue of military registration and relation to military service is not removed and does not go anywhere.

According to the intentions of the legislator, to a certain extent everything should function in a digital format and automatically. But it will not be superfluous to remind once again the following. There are a number of articles in the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (KUpAP) that provide for fines for violations of mobilization legislation. Currently, according to Art. 210 of the Code – violation by conscripts, conscripts, reservists of the rules of military accounting in a special period, the amount of the fine is from UAH 17,000 to UAH 25,500.

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For Article 2101 According to the Code of Violations of the Law on Defense, Mobilization Training and Mobilization in a Special Period, the amount of the fine also ranges from UAH 17,000 to UAH 25,500.

An administrative penalty for the commission of offenses provided for in Article 210 of the Code during a special period may be imposed within three months from the day of its discovery, but no later than one year from the day of its commission.

Persons who have reached the age of sixteen at the time of committing an administrative offense are subject to administrative liability.

Persons aged between sixteen and eighteen who have committed administrative offenses shall be subject to measures of influence provided for in Article 24-1 of this Code.  There is a list of articles for which minors are liable on general grounds, but articles 210 and 210-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are not included in this list.

Article 24-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides for the following measures of influence applied to minors: for the commission of administrative offenses, the following measures of influence may be applied to minors between the ages of sixteen and eighteen:

  1. the obligation to apologize publicly or in another form to the victim;
  2. warning;
  3. reprimand or severe reprimand;
  4. transfer of a minor to the supervision of parents or persons who replace them, or to the supervision of a pedagogical or labor team with their consent, as well as to individual citizens at their request.

Therefore, a fine cannot be imposed on a person aged 16 to 18 for violating the mobilization legislation. Liability in the form of a fine may be imposed on a person after reaching the age of eighteen.

In addition, you can often hear that the child’s parents are responsible for violating the mobilization legislation. However, the child’s parents have nothing to do with the imposition of an administrative fine and its payment, because up to the age of 18, a fine for violation of mobilization legislation cannot be imposed on a person, and from the age of 18, a person is considered a full-fledged citizen, a participant in all legal relations and an independent person, for whom parents are not responsible.

It is not known what further changes will befall us on the mobilization path, but in order to avoid fines and other troubles, we advise you to calculate all the steps in advance and predict all possible consequences. To what extent does the automatic inclusion of a minor in the register of conscripts comply with human and child rights? In our opinion, not really. But the project is experimental and time will show its effectiveness. However, it is possible that someone will dare to take the long path of contesting and canceling the specified norm.

 

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