On 9 July, the OSCE published the report «Report on Violations and Abuses of International Humanitarian, Human Rights and Criminal Law related to Militarization and Indoctrination of Ukrainian Children by the Russian Federation», prepared by the OSCE Moscow Mechanism mission of experts.

The full report is available here: https://cutt.ly/gywhuPsz.

The report prepared by the experts is of particular importance, as it once again confirms the international community’s assessment that the militarization and indoctrination of Ukrainian children constitute a deliberate state policy of the Russian Federation. This conclusion is based on the evidence presented in the report, including findings that, in the temporarily occupied territories, Russia has completely reshaped the education system in line with its ideological narrative, displaced the Ukrainian language from the educational process, and systematically implemented practices aimed at eradicating Ukrainian national identity.

The report documents the activities of militarized organizations operating in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the so-called all-Russian children’s and youth military-patriotic movement «Yunarmiya» and the Russian movement of children and youth «Movement of the First». The experts also highlight other instruments used to militarize children, including cadet classes, children’s camps and educational school courses that include weapons training and the promotion of Russian militaristic ideology.

The report emphasizes the coordinated and large-scale process of the militarization and indoctrination of Ukrainian children and concludes that the actions of the Russian Federation may amount to crimes against humanity.

As a reminder, on 9 June, Permanent Representative Olha Kuryshko met with the experts of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism. During the meeting, the Permanent Representative briefed the experts on the activities of Russian occupation militarized networks in the temporarily occupied Crimea aimed at militarizing children and youth. She also noticed that these practices began immediately after the occupation of the peninsula in 2014 and were subsequently expanded to other temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.