People should be motivated to join the army, not forced – Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner

Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) Commissioner for Human Rights, believes that the armed forces should be replenished through people’s motivation, not by force.

Source: Lubinets in an interview for Suspilne

Quote: "The military cannot walk the streets detaining Ukrainian citizens. Who would benefit from that? There must be a clear procedure based first and foremost on motivation, so that Ukrainian citizens join the army by their own volition and are not forced to do so."

Details: Lubinets believes that recruitment centres should be set up in Ukraine that would assess people’s education and state of health. If a person cannot fight on the front line, they could control a drone or work in logistics support, for instance; people could choose a unit and military specialism themselves.

Quote: "Do you know what the difference is between the enlistment office representatives and the Ukrainian citizen who was thrown onto a bus? The enlistment office representatives are officials who represent the state. We analyse their actions in the context of protecting human rights. Should a Ukrainian citizen defend his state? Yes, that is also a norm in the Constitution. Should evasion be punished? Yes. But we are also analysing the mobilisation process here. Are enlistment offices authorised to detain a person and throw them onto a bus? No. Should they be authorised to do so? No. As a government official, I must assess things purely from the point of view of the law."

Background: 

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on 3 April that Russia is preparing to mobilise an additional 300,000 servicemen by 1 June. Asked how many people would be mobilised into the Ukrainian army this year, Zelenskyy said, "We don't need half a million."

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