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Amnesty International is warning this Friday about the contents of the new Russian history textbook that high school students will be holding in their hands in Russia this year. It “hides the truth and distorts the facts about serious human rights violations,” particularly in Ukraine, the NGO said.
Published on September 1, 2023 00:05
Reading time: 2 minutes
A copy of the new textbook for high school students on general world history and Russian history, which mentions the country’s ongoing military action in Ukraine on August 7, 2023. (YURI KADOBNOV / AFP)
On the eve of the start of the school year, Amnesty International condemned the new Russian history textbook on Friday September 1st, thereby legitimizing the country’s military strategy. For the NGO, it is a “blatant attempt to illegally indoctrinate Russian students and students in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.”
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According to Amnesty International, high school students who return to school on September 1 are particularly affected: “The textbook – which is full of clichés of official Russian propaganda and attempts to justify Russia’s illegal actions from the annexation of Crimea in 2014 until the invasion. “ of Ukraine in 2022 – will be a mandatory part of the program.
For example, the new manual refers to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” and gives Vladimir Putin the date of February 24, 2022, the day he ordered the operation. The president then declared: “It is ultimately a question of life and death, the question of our historical future as a people.”
According to the NGO, this is retaliation for those who refuse to teach this program
The NGO emphasizes that the Russian curriculum “was introduced in schools in the occupied territories of Ukraine in September 2022” and that parents, teachers and students who refuse to follow it risk becoming “victims of violence, arbitrary detention and to be mistreated.” Alina, a history teacher in Izyum, Ukraine, told Amnesty researchers that she was afraid to teach Ukrainian history during the months of Russian occupation and hid her textbooks at home.
According to Anna Wright, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia officer: “The manual hides the truth and distorts the facts about serious human rights violations and crimes under international law committed by Russian forces against Ukrainians.” She adds: “The indoctrination of children at a vulnerable stage of their development is a cynical attempt to erase Ukrainian culture, identity and heritage. It is also a violation of the right to education.”
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The NGO recalls that Russia is a member of the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and also a member of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this sense, Moscow, as the “occupying power” of several regions of Ukraine under its control, must “respect, protect and realize the right to education and not violate this right by indoctrinating students with propaganda.”
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