Ukraine: Forced Russification of Education Under Occupation

• Russian authorities have imposed Russian-language curriculum and Kremlin propaganda in schools in occupied Ukraine and have retaliated against school staff who refuse to implement Russian-language curriculum.
• Russia should halt all efforts to Russify Ukraine’s education system; Ukrainian authorities and foreign donors should Civilized Society Allow children to continue learning during periods of occupation or displacement.
• this Laws of War The occupying power is required to restore services in the occupied territory, but is prohibited from applying its own laws, including those concerning education.

(Kyiv, June 20, 2024) – Russian The authorities are suppressing Ukraine Russia’s ban on the Russian language and curriculum, imposition of Russian-language curriculum, anti-Ukrainian propaganda, and use of Russian as the language of instruction in schools in occupied Ukraine violate both the laws of armed conflict (which prohibit occupying powers from making unnecessary changes to the laws of an occupied territory) and international human rights standards on the right to education, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 66-page reportEducation under occupation: Russification of the school system in occupied Ukraine,” Documented violations of international law on the right to education by Russian authorities in the formerly occupied Kharkivska region of Ukraine and other areas still under Russian occupation. Russian authorities forced curriculum changes and retaliated by threatening, detaining, and even torturing school staff who refused to change curriculum. Human Rights Watch also found that occupation authorities threatened parents whose children were taking Ukrainian courses online.

“Russia should stop depriving Ukrainian children of their right to an education guaranteed by international law,” Bill Van EsveldDeputy director for children’s rights at Human Rights Watch. “It should immediately stop trying to Russify the education system and promote political indoctrination in the occupied territories of Ukraine.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 42 educators, school staff, and other officials in the Kharkiv region after Russian forces withdrew from the region in September 2022, and interviewed teachers who were displaced or fled from the currently occupied Khersonska, Zaporizhka, Donetsk, and Luhanska regions.

Ukrainian experts estimate that 1 million Ukrainian school-age children remain in Russian-occupied territories. Data provided to Human Rights Watch by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science indicate that more than 62,400 children living in occupied territories are still learning remotely in Ukrainian secondary schools.

The laws of war require the occupying power to restore public order and services in the occupied territory, including providing adequate education for children, but it must respect the laws in force in the territory before the occupation and is prohibited from imposing its own laws, including education laws.

The school curriculum imposed by Russia in occupied Ukraine includes history textbooks that justify Russia’s invasion, portray Ukraine under the current government as a “neo-Nazi state,” and severely restricts the use of Ukrainian as a language of instruction. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees children’s right to an education that fosters respect for “their own cultural identity, language and values” and for the “national values” of their country of origin. Russia’s forced changes to the education system in occupied territories also violate other international human rights standards, including the prohibition of war propaganda, the right of children to be educated in their mother tongue, and the right of parents to choose their children’s education.

Children in occupied Ukraine also receive military training as part of the school curriculum. UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine Reported Russian authorities have asked secondary schools in the occupied Ukrainian territories to publish the names of students aged 18 and over who they consider eligible for conscription into the Russian armed forces.

Human Rights Watch found that occupation authorities retaliated against anyone who criticized the invasion, including in schools. Russian authorities and their proxies penalized remote learning or teaching the Ukrainian curriculum and threatened parents with fines, loss of custody, and detention if they did not enroll their children in “Russian” schools or if their children studied the Ukrainian curriculum remotely.

The occupation authorities also used coercion, detention, ill-treatment, and torture to force Ukrainian teachers to cooperate with them or hand over student files and other school data. The report documents a school principal in the village of Bolivsk, Kharkivska region, who was detained for a week in harsh conditions and beaten repeatedly by security agents for refusing to hand over information about his school.

In addition to specific violations by the occupation authorities, Russia’s overall invasion has also created a range of pressures on Ukraine’s education system, such as barriers to online learning, increasing needs for mental health support for students and teachers, and negative impacts on students with disabilities.

The report also documents the abuse of “collusion” charges by Ukrainian authorities against Ukrainian educators working under Russian occupation, even though some teachers have to work under the occupation to survive.

Human Rights Watch reviewed a September 2022 letter from the Ministry of Education to heads of educational institutions and other officials warning educators that serving in any management, teaching, or research position under occupation authorities is “absolutely unacceptable” and subject to “severe” criminal penalties, despite occupation authorities’ use of threats and violence to force educators to work in schools.

The laws of war do not directly address cooperation in wartime, but they prohibit and anticipate the coercion of an occupying force against a civilian population that is not its own national. The laws of war also require the occupying power to promote the proper functioning of institutions dedicated to the education of children, in cooperation with national and local authorities.

Given the context of the occupation and the responsibility of teachers to educate children, Human Rights Watch believes that Ukrainian authorities should not punish teachers in the occupied territories simply for educating children in the Russian curriculum and should revise their overly broad view of the crime of collaboration.

Human Rights Watch said Ukrainian authorities and foreign donors should work with Ukrainian civil society groups to find ways to keep children educated during Russian occupation or displacement.

“Russian authorities should ensure that education in occupied Ukraine follows the Ukrainian curriculum and Ukrainian laws,” Van Esveld said. “They should hold accountable all occupation officials who harass, abuse, and exert undue pressure on Ukrainian educators, students, and parents.”