17/02/2022 13:20

Commissioner: the occupying country violated the fundamental right to life of children in the zone of escalation of the armed conflict in Luhansk region

Today, the occupying country violated the fundamental right to life of children in the area of escalation of the armed conflict in Luhansk region. During the use of heavy artillery by illegal armed groups, the shells hit kindergartens and schools in Stanytsia Luhanska and Vrubivka village in Luhansk region. This was announced by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Lyudmyla Denisova.

According to preliminary data, there are no children killed or injured, three workers were injured.

"Targeted shelling of kindergartens and schools is a horrific act of cynical violation by the occupier of international humanitarian law, in particular Article 38 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which obliges states to take all possible measures to protect children affected by armed conflict." stressed the Commissioner.

The ombudsman appealed to the leadership of the Luhansk regional state administration, the regional military-civilian administration, to urgently address the issue of relocating educational and social infrastructure outside the shelling zone and take other civil protection measures to prevent casualties during the escalation of the armed conflict.

It also called on the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and the international non-governmental organization Save the Children to provide humanitarian assistance to the victims of the shelling.