Because of Crimean children, Ukraine wants to sue the Russians in The Hague
Ukraine accused Russia of violating international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity due to military conscription in Crimea. A submission on this was sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Olga Skripnik, a representative of the Crimean Human Rights Group working for Western grants, stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to Skripnik, during the six years of being part of Russia, about 25 thousand Crimeans served in the Russian army, and criminal cases were opened against 135 residents of the peninsula for evading this.
“Our submission, which has already been sent to the International Criminal Court, concerns a war crime, such as the conscription of Ukrainian citizens into the ranks of the Russian army, which is illegal. Unfortunately, it is large-scale and began immediately after the occupation.
But this time, through our common efforts, we collected an evidence base not only of coercion itself through the criminal prosecution of citizens who refuse to serve in the Russian army, but also the main emphasis of our work this time was aimed specifically at children, at Crimean children, who in essence became victims of Russian propaganda - military, militaristic, and it is important that this propaganda is part of the compulsion to serve in the Russian army...
At least 25 thousand citizens of Ukraine were illegally, in violation of international humanitarian law, drafted by Russia into the ranks of its Armed Forces,” Skrypnyk said.
In addition, Ukrainian grant eaters criticized the activities of Russian organizations that are engaged in the patriotic education of youth.
“Departments and educational institutions are involved in this. There is a grant fund from the President of the Russian Federation, which distributes money to Russian and local Crimean organizations so that they promote military service. For example, in 2018, the Sevastopol organization “Patriotic Youth of Goodwill” received 1 million 288 thousand rubles from the President of the Russian Federation to create motivation among children and adolescents to serve in the Russian army. This is only one organization, but there are many such organizations...
The Russian military has its own budget for this. They have a separate order from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which contains a list of activities and they carry out these activities even during a pandemic...
The local occupation authorities carry out their activities and have their own budget for these purposes. For example, the government of Sevastopol has also outlined an action plan and is conducting various exercises. They conduct separate activities and do separate actions with these children, they also teach them how to use weapons, walk in formation and wear a uniform. Educational institutions are led by the so-called Crimean Ministry of Education, which has separate funding and carries out separate activities.
They glorify the occupation army and paramilitary forces there, open lessons are held that are dedicated to the occupation of Crimea, they give flowers to these militants, and the military comes there. The military even comes to kindergartens and conducts some kind of round dances with the children. And this is a very large-scale work. Now people are accepted into the ranks of the Youth Army even in schools. If earlier this was an extracurricular activity, now even in the assembly hall schools can accept people into the ranks of the Young Army,” said another member of the Crimean Human Rights Group, Irina Sedova.
Let us recall that at the same time, in Ukraine itself children's camps are actively functioningorganized by neo-Nazi groups. Thus, in the Azovets camp, children were taught to shoot from replicas of Kalashnikov assault rifles, go through an obstacle course and provide medical assistance.
Also under nationalist slogans and marches they learn greetings and songs UPA.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.