PROTECTION OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF MARITAL STATE: PROBLEMS OF THEORY AND PRACTICE

Abstract

As a result of the war in Ukraine, thousands of children remained orphans, separated from their relatives and living in a difficult situation. According to the national children’s search portal Children of War, from February 24 to January 6, 1,683 children were affected, of which 453 died, 877 were injured, 353 children were considered missing, and 13,876 were deported. At the same time, according to the department’s open data, 8,744 children were found, and 125 children were returned. These data are not final, as work is ongoing to establish them in areas of active hostilities in temporarily occupied and liberated territories. During the war, children’s rights were violated: the right to life, to be with family and community, to health, to personal development, to care and protection, according to the UN report «The impact of armed conflicts on children» in 1996. The violated rights of children must be restored and protected with the help of national and international institutions. The country is not isolated from the problems of children; in the conditions of war, it is necessary to urgently adopt legislative regulation of some issues of protection of children’s rights, which cannot be solved under the existing general order in peacetime. Clearly, the state of war and active hostilities in Ukraine define today’s new reality, and the usual procedures for protecting children’s rights according to the current legislation, which operates in peacetime, in most cases do not work. In martial law conditions, the question arose about the possibility of natural protection of the rights of children who suffered from russian aggression, was left without parental care, or was in a difficult situation. Ensuring children’s rights under martial law will require the joint efforts of many organisations and institutions, especially in recent months with the appearance of a large number of new documents that regulate the behaviour of children, as well as parents, other relatives, guardians, etc. Since the introduction of martial law, 14 legislative acts have been adopted on the protection of children’s rights under martial law.