The European Union calls on Kiev to condemn the existence of far-right camps that train children to use weapons and take the necessary measures to put an end to this practice, an EU spokesperson told Sputnik on Friday.
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2018) The European Union calls on Kiev to condemn the existence of far-right camps that train children to use weapons and take the necessary measures to put an end to this practice, an EU spokesperson told Sputnik on Friday.On Tuesday, the Euronews television network reported that children aged 8-16 were being taught to shoot with Kalashnikov assault rifles at a summer camp in the Ternopil region of Ukraine. Video footage provided by the network showed a "trainer" from ultra-nationalist group Svoboda telling children that it was "OK" to shoot at residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics in eastern Ukraine.
"We have seen the reports you refer to. Ukraine has faced well-known security challenges since 2014. At the same time, Ukraine must ensure respect for its existing international commitments regarding the protection of children, as well as combating hate speech. The Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and sports has yesterday issued a comment clarifying that the camp appearing in the report has not received state support. At the same time, we expect Ukrainian authorities to condemn such activities, prevent them in future and sanction proven cases," the spokesperson said.
On Wednesday, UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told Sputnik that the UN monitoring mission on human rights in Ukraine was aware of the situation with the camps and would investigate the reports.
The situation in Ukraine destabilized in 2014 after former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had been overthrown as a result of violent clashes in Kiev.
