Protecting the rights of children in the armed conflict: the tasks before the state government

Olha Melnychuk; Oleksandr Yaremenko; Tetiana Kronivets; Natalia Opolska; Tetiana Overkovska

doi:10.34069/AI/2022.60.12.3

Olha Melnychuk Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4229-621X
Oleksandr Yaremenko Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3053-2257
Tetiana Kronivets Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5506-3418
Natalia Opolska Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1507-0178
Tetiana Overkovska Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1686-5688

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2022.60.12.3

Keywords: rights, children, protection, armed conflict, state power.

Abstract

The critical condition of the rights of children during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces demonstrates the urgent need for better ways of their protection. It is a State’s duty to design a set of measures aimed at effective protection of the rights of children in critical situations. The paper aims to review ongoing as well as long term tasks of the state authorities regarding the protection of children’s rights in an armed conflict. The article uses the general scientific method as well as the legal method of scientific investigation. It is based on the authors’ observations as witnesses of Russian military aggression, as well as on surveying internally displaced persons and refugees. The authors conclude that the authorities of Ukraine have to resolve a number of current and long-term tasks. The current tasks include nearest means and remedies for protection of children who became victims of the military conflict. This includes performing highly organized safe evacuation of children from the areas of military action, repatriation of children from abroad and returning internally dislocated persons to the de-occupied territory of Ukraine, repatriating deported children back to Ukraine, and administering measures to address the basic needs of children in times of war. The long-term tasks concerning the protection of rights of children include, among others, the development of a comprehensive policy for protecting the rights of children, creating a governmental body that would perform a consolidating function in relation to the protection of children’s rights, reforming the justice system in relation to children, and deinstitutionalizing the area of children’s rights.

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Author Biographies

Olha Melnychuk, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Doctor of Law, Professor, Head of the Department of Public Legal Disciplines of the Faculty of Law, Public Management and Administration of Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Oleksandr Yaremenko, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Candidate of Science of governance, Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Public Management and Administration of Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Tetiana Kronivets, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Fundamental and Private Law Disciplines of the Faculty of Law, Public Management and Administration of Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Natalia Opolska, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Doctor of Law, Professor of the Department of Public and Legal Disciplines of the Faculty of Law, Public Management and Administration of Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Tetiana Overkovska, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

Сandidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Public and Legal Disciplines of the Faculty of Law, Public Management and Administration of Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine.

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