{"id":35871,"date":"2025-06-01T15:13:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T12:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/?p=35871"},"modified":"2025-06-06T13:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T10:29:18","slug":"discrimination-through-assimilation-and-militarization-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/articles\/columns\/discrimination-through-assimilation-and-militarization-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Discrimination through assimilation and militarization of children"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span lang=\"en-US\">P<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">rotection of the rights of groups that are called &#8220;vulnerable to discrimination&#8221; in the language of modern international law is <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">reminded about <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">on certain dates, many of them in spring. Discrimination against women is <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">discussed<\/span> <span lang=\"en-US\">rather <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/breaking-news\/achievements-of-the-advocating-womens-rights-in-kyrgyzstan-to-be-continued\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">March<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\">, the topic of discrimination against Roma is <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">raised<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/breaking-news\/meeting-with-representatives-of-ukrainian-roma-29\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">April<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\">, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">while<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> in May even two dates are very relevant \u2013 the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/articles\/may-17-the-international-day-against-homophobia-transphobia-and-biphobia\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">D<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ay<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> against homophobia\/transphobia and the <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">D<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ay of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/breaking-news\/the-right-to-memory-on-the-anniversary-of-the-deportation-of-the-crimean-tatar-people\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">remembrance<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, who are discriminated against and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/articles\/the-discrimination-and-persecution-of-crimean-tatars-in-2014-2022\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">persecuted<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> by the Russian authorities in the 21st century. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The spring trimester ends with the <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">D<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ay of protection of children, who are often discriminated <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">either<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> as members of minorities, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">or<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> in gender <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">dimension<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">or <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">simply as such \u2013 children <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">always <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">and everywhere have <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">less<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> rights than adults. Children&#8217;s rights as a concept have existed for a long time, but not always and not everyone perceived them as an essential part of human rights guarantees. The situation has begun to change recently, when the rights of children from Ukraine are taking up more and more attention in the work of professional lawyers and human rights defenders. It is important <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">to put this issue <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">in the context of discriminatory attitudes towards children, whom the Russian authorities perceive as a tool for suppressing a group, often an entire nation. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/the-un-committee-on-the-rights-of-the-child-condemned-violations-of-the-rights-of-ukrainian-children-by-the-russian-federation\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">noted<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> the <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">terrible<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> practice of abducting Ukrainian children, indoctrinating them with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/report-of-adc-memorial-and-kharkiv-human-rights-protection-group-to-the-un-crc-violations-of-the-rights-of-children-deported-from-ukraine-by-the-russian-federation\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">militaristic <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">and <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">chauvinistic <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ideas<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> through propaganda and extremely ideologized schooling, and using these children<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> in war, after <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">growing up under occupation or forced assimilation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Often the situation is seen as an <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">analog<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">y <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">with the actions of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Ages, when the children of conquered Christian peoples were forced to become janissaries \u2013 Turkish infantrymen. <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">But i<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">t seems more appropriate to recall <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">another episode of <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">the past, not so long ago and much more familiar<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, meaning<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> the recruitment of children into the army of the Russian Empire<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">. While <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">normally <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">recruits were adults<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, the minors were forcibly taken from <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">those groups of the population who were suppressed<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> and <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">discriminated. The issue of Jewish <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">cantonists<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> is quite well known and studied<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> much less do we know about <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cantonist\"><span lang=\"en-US\">I<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ndigenous peoples, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">Roma<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> and children of participants in uprisings<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Such children were recruited into the army from the age of 7, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">and <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">died <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">en<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> masse, unable to withstand the <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">extremely<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> difficult conditions, stress, hunger and disease. Alexander Herzen wrote in <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">\u201cMy <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">Past and Thoughts<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">\u201d<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> that he had never seen anything more terrible than the march of the unfortunate child soldiers: &#8220;Pale, exhausted, with a frightened look, they stood in awkward, thick soldier&#8217;s overcoats with <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">hard<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> collar<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">s<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, turning some kind of helpless, pitiful gaze at the garrison soldiers who roughly <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">lined<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> them<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> up<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">; white lips blue circles under the<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ir<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> eyes \u2014 showed fever or chills. And these sick children, without care, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">without <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">kindness<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, blown by the wind that blows freely from the Arctic Sea, went to the grave.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The Russian authorities have now begun to persecute minorities again, as they are again taking children away from those who resist their imperial aggression. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">There is a process of consistent and ever-increasing repression <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">against I<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ndigenous peoples<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> organizations defending the cultural, economic, political, and linguistic rights of national minorities are recognized as extremist, terrorist, and undesirable. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">The first step was taken back in 2016, when the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people was recognized as &#8220;extremist&#8221;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">.<\/span> <span lang=\"en-US\">H<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">uman rights <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">defenders <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">protested at that time, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/the-self-government-body-of-the-crimean-tatar-people-must-not-be-banned\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">calling<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> it &#8220;a stage of the attack on the rights of the Crimean Tatars, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">and <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ethnic, cultural and political (based on political <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">convictions<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">) discrimination of the Crimean Tatar people.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Eight years later, 55 organizations representing different peoples under the rule of the Russian Federation had be<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">en<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> recognized as &#8220;extremist&#8221; at once: the activists were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/breaking-news\/russia-inclusion-of-indigenous-peoples-and-national-minorities-rights-organisations-in-the-list-of-extremist-organisations\/\"><span lang=\"en-US\">accused<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> of &#8220;destroying the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia.&#8221; In a few months, they <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">appeared to <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">be &#8220;terrorist&#8221;<\/span> <span lang=\"en-US\">organisations<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">.<\/span> <span lang=\"en-US\">Among the repressed groups there are <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">representatives of small <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">I<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ndigenous peoples protected by special Russian and international law<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">.<\/span> <span lang=\"en-US\">Their <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">human rights work<\/span> <span lang=\"en-US\">had been <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">completely arbitrarily label<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">led <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">and criminaliz<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">S<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">mall indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation have recently initiated an important step towards recognizing the centuries-old violation of their rights by the colonialists<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">.<\/span> <span lang=\"en-US\">W<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ith the support of a number of democratic politicians, human rights defenders and journalists, they adopted a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/indigenous-russia.com\/archives\/43490\"><span lang=\"en-US\">document<\/span><\/a><span lang=\"en-US\"> declaring recognition of the mistakes and crimes of the past, reconciliation and respect, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">under the necessary condition of <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">respect for the rights of <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">I<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ndigenous peoples in the future. Among other things, the authors of the <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">D<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">eclaration noted &#8220;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">a coercive and mandatory system of boarding schools, which led to the destruction of family and cultural ties, forced assimilation, erosion of Indigenous identity, and the loss of native languages and traditions (commonly referred to as the issue of the \u201cStolen Generations\u201d)<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">. T<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">his peace initiative<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> found quick repressive response from <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">: the <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">coordinator<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> of the Declaration, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">the Batani Foundation, <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">was <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">d<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">eclared an &#8220;undesirable organization&#8221;<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">, for the <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">demand<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> of<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> &#8220;recognition of historical justice and ensuring the rights of the <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">I<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ndigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East,&#8221; were by. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em><span lang=\"en-US\">Stefania <\/span><\/em><span lang=\"en-US\"><em>KULAEVA<\/em><br \/>\n<em>First published on the blog of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.svoboda.org\/a\/malenjkie-rekruty-stefaniya-kulaeva-o-diskriminatsii-detey-\/33429613.html\">Radio Svoboda<\/a> (in Russian)<\/em><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protection of the rights of groups that are called &#8220;vulnerable to discrimination&#8221; in the language of modern international law is reminded about on certain dates, many of them in spring. Discrimination against women is discussed rather in March, the topic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[362],"tags":[155,215],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[515],"class_list":["post-35871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","tag-childrensrights-en","tag-minorities-rights-en","regions-russia"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",922,574,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1-125x125.png",125,125,true],"medium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1-300x187.png",300,187,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1-768x478.png",640,398,true],"large":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1-650x405.png",640,399,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",922,574,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",922,574,false],"pub-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1-220x137.png",220,137,true],"post-thumb":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1-170x170.png",170,170,true],"wcicon":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",48,30,false],"wcsquare":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",300,187,false],"wcsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",250,156,false],"wcstandard":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",550,342,false],"wcbig":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",800,498,false],"wcfixedheightsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",289,180,false],"wcfixedheightmedium":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",482,300,false],"wcfixedheight":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",803,500,false],"wccarouselsmall":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",210,131,false],"wccarousel":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",400,249,false],"wcslider":["https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/1june1.png",803,500,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"<p>Protection of the rights of groups that are called &#8220;vulnerable to discrimination&#8221; in the language of modern international law is reminded about on certain dates, many of them in spring. Discrimination against women is discussed rather in March, the topic of discrimination against Roma is raised in April, while in May even two dates are very relevant \u2013 the Day against homophobia\/transphobia and the Day of remembrance of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, who are discriminated against and persecuted by the Russian authorities in the 21st century. The spring trimester ends with the Day of protection of children,&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"<a href=\"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/category\/articles\/columns\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Columns<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"admin3","url":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/author\/admin3\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35902,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35871\/revisions\/35902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35871"},{"taxonomy":"strategy_cases","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/strategy_cases?post=35871"},{"taxonomy":"campaign","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaign?post=35871"},{"taxonomy":"archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archive?post=35871"},{"taxonomy":"filter-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filter-content?post=35871"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=35871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}