The High Council of Justice received an information reference from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) on the situation with human rights in Ukraine for February 24 – to March 26, 2022, which documented a number of violations, testifying to grave consequences of armed attack of the russian federation for our citizens.
The reference on the situation with human rights in Ukraine is an annex to the thirty-third Report of the UN Human Rights Monitoring mission of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for the period from August 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022.
The document highlights serious violations of human rights and expresses the concern over the violations of international humanitarian law, which have been witnessed since the beginning of the armed attack of the russian federation on February 24, 2022.
In particular, HRMMU states about victims among citizens, damaging and destroying of civilian objects, arrests and possible violent disappearing, attacks on journalists and human rights defenders, and also influence on groups that are in a vulnerable situation.
HRMMU notes that as of March 26, 2022, hostilities on the territory of Ukraine caused at least 2909 cases of death or wounding of civilians, in particular, 1119 killed, also damaging or destroying hundreds of residential houses, hospitals, schools, kindergartens and other civilian objects. Actual casualty numbers are much higher.
Scale hostilities have caused a mass displacement of the civilian population. According to UNHCR, as of March 26, 2022, over 3,8 million people have left the country and an estimated 6,5 million became internally displaced. Due to the ongoing hostilities and large-scale displacement, many human rights defenders have been unable to perform their human rights work, which has had negative implications on the vulnerable groups they support.
As it is said in the document, the concern is growing regarding possible reprisals and retaliation against human rights defenders in areas occupied by russian armed forces.
There are strong indications that in the course of the conflict occurred serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross violations of international human rights law, treatment of prisoners of war.
International humanitarian law requires parties to a conflict to distinguish at all times between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives, to only direct attacks against military objectives, and to take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding or at the very least minimizing incidental loss of civilian lives and damage to civilian objects.
At the same time, HRMMU states the blatant violation of such norms, in particular, operations by rf with the use of weapons with a wide-area effect in populated areas. Most civilian casualties and damage to civilian objects recorded by HRMMU were caused using such weapons.
Unguided munitions have been extensively used by russian armed forces in attacks on the urban areas of Chernihiv, Hostomel, Irpin, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lysychansk, Mariupol, Sievierodonetsk, Sumy, Volnovakha, Zhytomyr, etc.
HRMMU has received credible allegations that Russian armed forces used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 16 times, resulting in civilian casualties as well as damage to civilian objects.
HRMMU corroborated attacks on six perinatal centers, maternity hospitals, and ten children's hospitals, resulting in the complete destruction of two children’s hospitals and one perinatal hospital.
Separately, the document emphasizes the danger of uncontrolled processes of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, which were attacked by the russian armed forces. It is noted that as of the reporting period the State inspection of nuclear regulation lost communications with both Chornobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants. Off-site and on-site radiological monitoring is currently entirely absent.
OHCHR notes that international humanitarian law provides special protections for nuclear electrical generating stations.
For the reference: In Ukraine, the mandate of the OHCHR is implemented by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, which publishes regular reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine.
The Mission's activity is based on validated information gathered from a number of sources, including through communication with victims and witnesses of human rights violations across the country.
HRMMU documents violations of human rights and international humanitarian law; records the civilian casualties associated with the conflict; prepares public reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine; provides advocacy aimed at protecting human rights with state and non-state actors; analyzes draft laws and provides recommendations to the Government on their compliance with international law in the field of human rights and international humanitarian law; provides technical assistance to national partners, including civil society.
All reports on the situation with human rights in Ukraine are available by link: https://bit.ly/3KRMWYK