Small recruits. Stefania Kulaev - about discrimination of children

The protection of groups of groups, which in the language of modern international law are called "vulnerable to discrimination" is noted on certain dates, many of them - in the spring. Discrimination of women is more talked about in March , the topic of discrimination of Romain (or gypsies) sounds in April , and in May even two dates in a row are very relevant - the day of the struggle against homophobia/transfoby and the day of memory of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, subject to discrimination and persecution by the Russian authorities and in the 21st century.

The spring trimester ends with the day of protection of children, whom discrimination applies often as representatives of minorities and as discriminated in the gender plan, and simply as such - the rights of all and everywhere are less than in adults. The rights of children as a concept have existed for a long time, but not always and not everyone perceived them as the most important part of human rights guarantees. The situation began to change recently, when the rights of children from Ukraine are more and more attention in the work of professional lawyers and human rights activists. It seems important that this topic be understood in the context of a discriminatory attitude towards children, which the Russian authorities perceive as an instrument of suppression of the group, often a whole people. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly noted a monstrous practice of kidnapping Ukrainian children, suggestions by them-through propaganda and extremely ideologized school education- militaristic-chivinistic doctrines , the use of these growing in the conditions of the occupation or violent assimilation of children.

Again they take away children from those who resist their imperial aggression

Often there are analogies with the actions of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Ages, when the children of the conquered Christian peoples were forced to become Janissaries - Turkish infantrymen. It seems more appropriate to recall the past, but not so long and much more familiar: a set of children to the army of the Russian Empire, where they deliberately forced to give minors from those population groups that were suppressed, discriminated, oppressed (ordinary recruits were adults). The issue of Jewish cantonists is quite well known and studied, we know much less about the indigenous peoples, gypsies and children of participants in uprisings in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Since 7 years, such children were taken into the army, where the kids were massively killed, without withstanding difficult conditions, loads, hunger and diseases. Alexander Herzen in the "former and thoughts" wrote that he had not seen anything worse than the march of unfortunate soldier children: "Pale, exhausted, with a frightened look, they stood in awkward, thick soldier's overcoats with a standing collar, turning some helpless, nitish look at the garrison soldiers who rudely equal their lips, blue circles under the eyes. The fever or chills.

The Russian authorities have now again undertook to pursue minorities, they again take the children from those who resist their imperial aggression.

There is a process of consistent constantly intensifying repressions of the indigenous peoples, organizations that protect the cultural, economic, political and linguistic rights of national minorities recognize extremist, terrorist, undesirable.

The first step was taken back in 2016, when the Medzhlis of the Crimean Tatar people recognized the “extremist”, the human rights activists then protested, calling this “the stage of the attack on the rights of the Crimean Tatars, ethnic, cultural and political (according to political beliefs) discrimination of the Crimean Tatar people.”

After eight years, 55 organizations representing different peoples under the rule of the Russian Federation had to react to the recognition of “extremist”: activists were accused of “destroying multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia ” . A few months later they will be called “terrorist”, completely arbitrarily hanging labels and criminalizing human rights work, including representatives of small indigenous peoples, protected by special Russian law and international law. The small indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation recently initiated an important step towards the recognition of a centuries -old violation of their rights by the colonialists: with the support of a number of democratic politicians, human rights defenders and journalists, they adopted a document declaring the recognition of errors and crimes of the past, reconciliation and respect, subject to the observance of the rights of indigenous peoples in the future. Among other things, the authors of the Declaration noted "a non-alternative violent policy of boarding schools, which led to the destruction of family and cultural ties, violent assimilation, the destruction of indigenous identity, the loss of their native language and traditions (the so-called problem of" stolen generations "). In response to this peaceful initiative, its coordinators (fund "Batani"), requiring "recognition of historical justice and ensuring the rights of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East," the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation declared an "unwanted organization."

The problem of protecting children from violent assimilation practices remains extremely relevant - both for the peoples living behind the Urals, for the peoples of the Caucasus, water and other regions of the Russian Federation, and for those children of Ukraine whom the invaders are forced to study in Russian textbooks, trying to replace history with ideology, science - propaganda, truth - a lie.

Stefania Kulaeva - expert of the anti -discrimination center "Memorial"

Opinions expressed under the section may not reflect the point of view of the editorial office