The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, criticized Russia’s attack on Ukraine on Thursday, warning of the “massive impact” on millions of Ukrainians and the nuclear threat that weighs on the “whole of humanity”.
(You may be interested in: ‘Everyone knows that a third world war can only be nuclear’)
“The raising of the alert level of nuclear weapons underlines the seriousness of the risks that weigh on the whole of humanity,” Bachelet declared, before the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
(Read: Ukraine: a million people have fled the country due to the Russian invasion)
(Due to the public interest in the events between Russia and Ukraine, all of our coverage of that invasion and related actions will be freely accessible to all readers of TIME.)
Bachelet warned that “the Russian Federation’s military attack on Ukraine opened “a new and dangerous chapter in world history.” On Sunday, after launching the invasion against Ukraine on February 24, the Russian president ordered the nuclear deterrent force to be put on alert.
The 47 member states of the UN Human Rights Council met in an emergency session at the request of Ukraine, which has drafted a resolution calling for an international investigation.
According to the latest UN balance sheet, the conflict has left 230 civilians dead – including 15 children and 525 wounded, but Bachelet warned that the figures on the ground could be much higher.
Total destruction in Ukraine
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, denounced this Thursday that the town of Volnovaja has been practically destroyed in its entirety by bombing and that there are still some residents hiding in basements.
“Military operations are intensifying as we speak here, with bombings on or near large cities,” said Bachelet, to then list several Ukrainian cities, such as Kiev, Kharkiv, Mariupol or Kherson, a city in the south of the country that has been the first to fall into the hands of Russian forces.
The high commissioner appeared at the Human Rights Council, where she offered the most recent information collected by her office on the impact of the conflict, within the framework of an urgent debate dedicated to the war in Ukraine and which was requested by the Government of Kiev .
Most of the casualties have been caused by heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems and aerial bombardment of populated areas.
“We have disturbing information about the use of cluster munitions (prohibited by an international convention, of which Russia is not a party) directed against civilian targets,” he denounced.
On the other hand, Bachelet said that in just seven days more than two million Ukrainians have had to leave their homes. Half of them have been internally displaced and 1.04 million have left the country and sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to the records of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
“The UNHCR has estimated that up to four million people could leave the country in the coming weeks if the conflict continues,” he said.
Bachelet praised “the welcome that the Ukrainians have had” in the territory of their neighbors, but asked that this attitude be extended to all those fleeing this conflict, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity or immigration status, since there are known cases of discrimination against Africans and Asians in their flight.
On the other hand, he revealed that his office has been contacted by various groups who fear persecution if Russian troops take more territory, in particular members of the Tatar community, as well as human rights defenders and journalists.
EFE and AFP
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