The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday that the two sides in the Ukraine conflict have violated international norms applicable in times of war, although Russian forces have done so on a much more serious scale.
(Read: Zelensky warned that Russia could invade another country in Europe)
“While we still must have access to the territories occupied by Russian forces we have documented that both parties have committed violations of international norms human rights and international humanitarian law,” he said as he presented his office’s latest report on the situation in Ukraine.
“Although on a much smaller scale, it also seems likely that the Ukrainian armed forces have not fully complied” with those norms in the eastern territories of the country, which are the ones that Russia wants to bring under its full control and where it concentrates its military capacity. .
We have also documented twelve cases that may be forced disappearances by Ukrainian security forces.
Bachelet mentioned that the Ukrainian Security Services and the National Police had arrested about a thousand people suspected of supporting the Russian forces and their militias.
“We are concerned that the arrests are not made in accordance with Ukraine’s obligations,” he added.
The UN Human Rights Office has documented 4,889 civilian deaths, including 335 children, although it is stressed that the true figures may be considerably higher.
Most of the deaths occurred in heavy artillery attacks on populated areas.
“Although the number of civilian casualties caused by the use of these weapons is indisputable, the Russian armed forces have continued to operate in the same way, with the foreseeable consequences on the civilian population and its infrastructures,” Bachelet lamented.
Separately, his office has verified 28 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, including cases of rape, gang rape, torture, and forced public nudity.
Most of the cases were committed in areas controlled by the Russian armed forces, but there have also been reports of cases committed in areas under the control of the Ukrainian government, he said.
EFE
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