TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN UKRAINE

Torture and ill-treatment of children in UkraineIn the Secretariat of the Human Rights Ombudsperson, according toa classifier among categories of violated rights, such violations as torture andcruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment are separately setaside, while in the social category of applications the category of “children” ishighlighted. One can thus identify appeals alleging the use of torture or otherforms of ill-treatment of children.The head of the relevant section takes a decision after considering theappeal to terminate or extend the examination. This consideration may alsoresult in a submission being put to state authorities, bodies of local self-governmenttheir officials or functionaries asking them to take the appropriatemeasures within a month to remove the infringements of human and civilrights identified.Should there be any information in the appeal about a threat to the lifeor health of a child, the head of the section (of the criminal police on juvenilematters) takes a decision to examine it immediately or go to the place.The procedure for receiving and considering complaints from children differsfrom consideration of appeals from adults in that they are as a rule processedjointly by specialists from the Department on Implementation of a NationalPreventive Mechanism and the Department on Observance of the Rights ofthe Child, Non-Discrimination and Gender Equality.The Interior Ministry has adopted several normative acts pertaining toobservance of the law in police bodies, including an instruction 56 Order 57 andanother Order. 58The measures proposed in these Interior Ministry acts for preventing violationsof the law in police bodies, including torture and ill-treatment, are onthe whole of a general and non-specific nature and do not create effectivemechanisms for bringing officers guilty of human rights infringements to account,but merely contain proposals like “consider the question of dismissal”.56 Directive from 31.03.2011 No. 329 “On additional measures to preclude cases of tortureand ill-treatment in the work of police stations”.57 Interior Ministry Order from 26.03.2010 No. 90 “On the situation with discipline and lawfulnessin the work of Interior Ministry bodies and divisions and measures to improve them”.58 Interior Ministry Order No. 157 from 15.05.2007 “On additional measures for observanceby personnel of Interior Ministry bodies of the principles of law, ensuring human rights and civilliberties, international human rights standards and international legal acts and key documentsin the human rights field; the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and FundamentalFreedoms, etc”.118