On March 8th, the Ukrainian government declared martial law, preventing men ages 18-60 from leaving the country. Charli Carpenter, Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst teamed up with RIWI to assess whether Ukrainians believe that civilian men should be forced to stay in the country or allowed to flee like other civilians.
To answer this question, Random Domain Intercept Technology (RDIT) was used to Ukrainians. This study is the first to capture Ukrainians’ voices on this important and neglected human rights issue.
The survey data showed that fewer than half (45%) of Ukrainians believe that men should be forced to stay in the country. Further context was also obtained using open-ended qualitative questions where many respondents shared practical and ethical reasons for wanting to end the ban. Carpenter commented on the analysis completed to date, sharing that some respondents “invoke human rights law and rules on gender equality. Others point out that Ukraine has lots of volunteers and untrained, unwilling, depressed civilians do not make the best fighters, that some men can better support the war by working abroad and paying taxes to the army. A third category of respondents chose neither option and outlined a variety of alternative policy ideas. For example, one said, Ukraine could institute a rule that citizens must return to the country upon request, rather than hold them indefinitely in a shooting war.”
To read the research brief including analysis by Charli Carpenter of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, click here.