TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN UKRAINE

Section 1Analysis of legislation on prevention of torture and ill-treatment of children— the means of inflicting suffering;— the purpose of inflicting suffering — forcing them to commit actionsagainst their will.The criteria for the concepts presented are somewhat different. This is explainedfirst of all by the fact that the norms of Ukrainian legislation are aimedat any person, and therefore the law does not contain requirements regardingthe presence of a special subject of law.With respect to the Convention, a systematic analysis of its content makesit possible to conclude that the norms of the Convention are aimed at suchsituations and cases where a person for whatever reason is dependent ona public official or person who has powers linked with the authorities in relationto the victim. This involves, for example, such cases as a person servinga sentence; detention or arrest; a person being in a position of subservience(for example, a child’s dependence on a member of staff in a State children’sinstitution) and so forth.However the difference seen in the normative definitions of torture is notdecisive and cannot significantly influence the categorization of actions asthose having signs of torture. This is especially true with respect to unprotectedgroups in society, such as children, prisoners, detainees; those in custody.The definitions presented apply fully to children.International normative legal acts do not contain a definition of “crueltreatment” (ill-treatment). Domestic legislation mentions such form of treatment.The procedure for considering appeals and reports of ill-treatment ofchildren or a real threat of this happening (Order of the State Committee onthe Family and Youth, the MIA; Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministryof Health from 16.01.2004 No. 5/34/24/11) stipulates that ill-treatmentof a child is any form of physical, psychological, sexual or economic violenceagainst a child in the family or outside it. As we see, the legislator has not drawna sharp distinction and therefore the concepts of torture and ill-treatment arealmost identical. Yet it is clear that this is not the case. It is obvious that theconcept of torture encompasses more conscious, cruel and deliberate actions.In torture, as we pointed out above, there is a fairly unequivocal manifestation(deliberate violence); means of action and purpose. Ill-treatment has anothershade. Firstly, it may not have the same level of consciousness and not servea specific purpose. The reason in general could be indifference to the positionof a particular person, for example, a child. Secondly, the manner by which theill-treatment is carried out is much broader and can take various forms, even35