The state of protection of children’s rights under martial law: Ombudsman’s report for 2024
The year 2024 proved that the protection of children’s rights remains one of the key and at the same time the most difficult areas of activity in the conditions of a full-scale war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Office of the Ombudsman (the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine) made public the annual report contains a full volume of statistics, facts and institutional findings that demonstrate both the scale of violations of children’s rights and the practical results of responding to them.
Main indicators
The report states that the Office of the Ombudsman considered 2,005 appeals regarding the violation of children’s rights. The total number of reports on violated rights is 2,990. 722 proceedings were opened, 260 were completed. 5,641 requests and initiative letters were sent in response to the violation of children’s rights. As a result of this activity, the rights of 11,319 children were restored. 108 cases of restoration of rights were the result of direct consideration of citizens’ appeals.
During the year, 282 projects of regulatory and legal acts were developed, 802 monitoring visits (on-site and non-site) were conducted to services for children, special schools, children’s homes, health care facilities, educational and rehabilitation centers, social-psychological rehabilitation centers, pretrial detention centers, and special institutions. Based on the results of these inspections, 34 response acts were prepared, including submissions by the Commissioner and constitutional submissions. 262 publications, clarifications, and informational materials were also prepared and distributed.
During monitoring visits, serious violations of children’s rights were recorded. In particular, in one of the evacuated institutions of social protection for children, which moved from the Dnipro to Zakarpattia Oblast, it was found that 23 children of different ages and sexes lived in two rooms together with accompanying persons. All children used common clothes, including underwear, without an individual set of things. They lived in such conditions for more than three years. The authorized representative sent the submission to the relevant authorities with the requirement to review the conditions of residence. In response, the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration together with the city council took measures. In the Center, the infrastructure was updated, equipment was purchased, and repairs were carried out. Currently, children live in separate rooms, taking into account gender and age, and staff are also provided with separate rooms.
The Office of the Commissioner draws attention to the fact that the child rights protection system in Ukraine faces problems of internal coordination between authorities at the central and local levels. In particular, the main executive structures are the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the National Social Service Service of Ukraine and the State Service of Ukraine for Children. Despite the common goal, there is a lack of effective coordination between these bodies. Duplication of functions, lack of subordination and subordination between the central and local levels negatively affect the performance of tasks in the field of child rights protection.
In particular, the State Service of Ukraine for Children’s Affairs, which is responsible for the implementation of state policy in this area, has no real leverage over regional and local services for children’s affairs, which are subordinate to the relevant military administrations and local self-government bodies. This complicates the implementation of national programs. This system defect is planned to be considered separately in a special report of the Commissioner.
As a result of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, children suffer from hostilities every day, which leads to a massive violation of their rights, in particular, to life, health care, education, family upbringing, protection from all forms of violence. The increase in the activity of hostilities and shelling of the entire territory of Ukraine in 2024 increased the number of victims among the child population.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, from February 24, 2022 to December 31, 2024, 596 children died, 1,740 were seriously injured as a result of military operations; 16 cases of sexual violence against children during the armed conflict were recorded. According to the National Police of Ukraine, 2,012 children are considered missing. According to the National Information Bureau, 19,546 children were forcibly relocated within the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or deported to the Russian Federation.
The status of a child who suffered as a result of hostilities and armed conflicts
During 2024, the children’s services received 268,349 applications for the status of a child who suffered as a result of hostilities and armed conflicts. As of December 31, 2024, 13,451 cases for granting this status remained pending.
Consideration of such a large number of applications in paper form creates an additional burden on children’s services and makes it impossible to perform all the functions provided by the law for the protection of the rights and best interests of the child. In addition, there is a discrepancy between the provisions of Article 301 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Childhood” and clause 5 of the Procedure for granting the status of a child who suffered as a result of hostilities and armed conflicts, approved by Resolution No. 268 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated April 5, 2017.
In particular, Article 301 of the Law stipulates that the status is granted by the body of guardianship and guardianship at the place of registration of the child as an internally displaced person. At the same time, Clause 5 of the Procedure provides for a larger number of categories that have the right to receive status, and an expanded list of entities that grant such status.
Thus, discrepancies between the provisions of the Law and the Order regarding the grounds and subjects of granting status create a legislative conflict, which leads to an ambiguous interpretation of the conditions for obtaining the status, and also creates situations in which the rights of the child to obtain it are violated.
In this regard, the legal representatives of the children turn to the Commissioner to renew the rights of their children to obtain the corresponding status. In addition, appeals are received from children’s affairs services to the Commissioner regarding the ambiguous interpretation of the provisions and norms of the legislation in the process of registration of this status.
Implementation of the child’s right in the war zone
The issue of mandatory forced evacuation of children accompanied by one of their parents, a person who replaces them, or another legal representative (hereinafter – forced evacuation of children) is regulated by Resolution No. 841 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated July 7, 2023.
In accordance with the mentioned resolution, the decision to forcibly evacuate children with their parents, persons who replace them, or other legal representatives is adopted by the regional military administration in agreement with the military command in the relevant territory and the Coordination Headquarters for evacuation measures and effective response to mass displacement of the population.
As of December 31, 2024, 14,184 children were forcibly evacuated from the territories where evacuation was announced in 2024, and another 152 children need to be evacuated, including from:
– Donetsk region — 13,352 children were evacuated, 101 children need to be evacuated;
– Sumy region — 761 children were evacuated, 16 children need to be evacuated;
– Kharkiv region — 71 children were evacuated, 35 children need to be evacuated.
As of the end of 2024, forced evacuation of children has been announced in three regions of Ukraine:
– Donetsk region (Vugledarsk, Bakhmutsk, Soledarsk, Chasovoyarsk, Avdiivsk, Marinsk, Ocheretynsk, Kostyantynivsk, Toretsk, Lymansk, Mykolaivsk, Kurakhivsk, Illinivsk, Grodivsk, Novogrodivsk, Selydivsk, Mirnogradsk, Pokrovsk, Velikonovosilkivsk, Komarsk, Udachnensk territorial communities);
– Sumy Oblast (Novoslobidska, Putivlska, Velikopysarivska, Bilopolska, Vorozhbyanska, Krasnopilska, Mykolaivska, Myropilska, Yunakivska, Khotynska, Seredino-Budska territorial communities);
– Kharkiv region (Boriv settlement territorial community).
At the same time, no changes have been made to Resolution No. 854 regarding the staffing of the Coordination Headquarters in connection with the renaming of the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, which makes it impossible for it to work fully, as well as the approval of the regional military administrations of the decisions made on the compulsory evacuation of children with their parents, persons who replace them, or other legal representatives from a separate settlement in the area where hostilities are taking place.
Problematic issues that arise during the forced evacuation of children include, in particular, the refusal of legal representatives to evacuate children. Despite the fact that the law stipulates that refusal is not allowed, there are cases when legal representatives of children hide them, avoiding evacuation. There are also cases of children who were previously evacuated from the respective territory being forcibly evacuated to settlements (cases of death and injuries after return have been recorded).
There is a lack of organization of the proper work of “hot lines” regarding the provision of informational support on issues of free evacuation of the population.
In addition, there is a problem of insufficient provision of evacuation groups with armored vehicles (in some regions there are no armored vehicles for evacuation) and personal protective equipment for children, lack of personal protective equipment for children under 4 years of age, lack of a state standard for the quality of personal protective equipment.
As of January 1, 2025, the National Police of Ukraine has created 9 police working groups of “White Angels” in regions where the forced evacuation of children has been announced, and ensured their functioning: 4 in Donetsk region, 3 in Kharkiv region, 2 in Sumy region. 45 police officers from all police divisions are involved in these groups: 19 in Kharkiv region, 12 in Donetsk region, and 14 in Sumy region.
For the protection of children in regions that are in the zone of active hostilities or under the threat of their intensification, 241 bulletproof vests were handed over (125 in Sumy, 75 in Kharkiv, 41 in Donetsk region).
According to the information of the National Police of Ukraine in the regions, as of January 1, 2025, the urgent need in the region is an additional 240 sets of children’s body armor with protective helmets, namely: Donetsk region — 40, Sumy — 100, Kharkiv region — 100.
