Is it true that the Ukrainian bill on the restriction of the departure of adolescents abroad was developed for their subsequent mobilization?

In mid -August 2023, a message became viral about the new Ukrainian bill, which supposedly will allow adolescents to leave abroad. Some media and Telegram channels considered this preparation for future mobilization of minors. We checked whether this is so. 

Starting from August 9, 2023 posts About these upcoming changes in Ukrainian legislation appeared in Telegram channels Readovka (874,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Live broadcast" (810 000), "Truthfulness" (250,000), "Mardan"(116 000) and"Ukraine.ru"(92 000), as well as in the channels of the TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko (105,000), publicist Yakov Kedmi (92,000) and many others. Authors of publications in social networks and in Media It is argued that the bill submitted to the Verkhovna Rada is preparations for mobilizing adolescents in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In the publications of the mentioned Telegram channels we are talking about on July 11 to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine bill No. 9480 "On Amendments to the Civil Code of Ukraine on the Protection of Children's Rights upon temporary departure outside Ukraine." Its authors really propose to limit the departure of Ukrainian teenagers aged 16 to 18 years abroad. However, as can be seen from the name, the bill does not apply to the legislation on military service, its goal is to change one of the norms of the Civil Code related to the legal stay of minors abroad. 

According to the current Ukrainian legislation, a person can go abroad without supporting parents or legal representatives after reaching the age of 16. However, in most EU countries, foreigners under 18 are considered children unaccompanied - such norms apply, for example, in France, Poland, Italy And Germany. Adolescents who came there from another state without adults can be placed under special supervision or prescribe temporary guardians to them. In the explanatory note The authors of the bill note that since the beginning of the full -scale Russian invasion, thousands of minor Ukrainians have been outside the country, some of them were unaccompanied by parents or guardians. 

The new bill proposes to give Ukrainians the right to independently travel abroad only after adulthood - and thereby agree on legislation with European norms. If the initiative is supported by deputies, children aged 16 to 18 years will be able to leave Ukraine only with the consent of their parents, adopted parents, and parents (special status For people who have taken up at least five orphans), guardians or trustees, accompanied by themselves or another person authorized by them. The corresponding consent will need to be obtained in the form established by law. Exceptions are those who married before adulthood or themselves became a parent. According to Ukrainian legislators, the unification of legislation with the EU will better protect the rights of adolescents abroad. 

In Ukraine, the proposal of deputies caused including Criticism, however, not related to issues of military service. The bill does not change either the procedure for mobilization or the procedure for undergoing military service, and the imposed restrictions are not related to the status of a military service. In addition, the bill applies to all Ukrainian adolescents, regardless of gender, while mobilization are men, but Not women.

Narrative The “preparation of Ukrainian children for mobilization”, about the ban on crossing borders or even about already warring and dying at the front of minors, is not at all for the first time in Russian -speaking media. FACHECHERS from "VOKS Ukrainian" Disassembled Similar messages back in February 2023. In July in row channels c Telegram, V Blogs, in the social network X (former Twitter) and in "VKontakte"There were photographs of graves, where adolescents who fought in the ranks of the Armed Forces are allegedly buried. How found out Our colleagues from the Reuters agency, the pictures were edited - the dead men were “rejuvenated”, changing the years of their birth on tombstones and mourning photos, and one of the pictures simply inserted another face.

Thus, information on changes in Ukrainian legislation, allowing in the near future to mobilize adolescents, is false. The innovations concern the Civil Code, and not the Law “On Military Duty and Military Service”, the bill does not have a word about changing the procedure for mobilization. 

Photo on the cover: Dariusz Sankowski from the site Pixabay

Not true

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