Friday, August 5, 2016
Impunity for Killings ‘Remains Rampant’ in Ukraine Conflict
A new report by the United Nations human rights office released this month describes widespread killings that have taken place in Ukraine since January 2014, concluding that very limited accountability has taken place. The report, which was prepared by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, stated that the armed conflict in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, “accounts for the majority of violations of the right to life in Ukraine over the last two years,” claiming up to 2,000 civilian lives, with nearly 90 per cent of conflict-related civilian deaths resulting from indiscriminate shelling of residential areas.
More than 9,300 people have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the separatist conflict in eastern regions of the country in mid-April 2014. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission was deployed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to the country in March 2014 upon the invitation of the Government of Ukraine.
Covering the period from January 2014 to May 2016, the report states that the killings are being According to the report, the killings are being “fuelled by the inflow of foreign fighters and weapons from the Russian Federation.” It concluded that no responsibility has been taken for any civilian deaths caused by the conduct of hostilities, and that some of the killings may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Click here to read more about the report.
(Adapted from a UN press release)
(mew)
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/international_law/2016/08/ukraine.html
