In a new report released Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) paints a bleak picture of the human rights situation in the country. With Russia’s invasion well into its 20th month, Ukraine’s civilians continue to pay a horrendous price with nearly 10,000 dead and tens of thousands injured, the report said, noting that over the past six months, the war has claimed, on average, six civilian lives a day.
According to the report, missile attacks against residential areas and vital infrastructure, as well as grain and agricultural facilities, often located far from frontline areas, continue to sow fear and destruction across Ukraine. Meanwhile, civilians in areas occupied by Russia face torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence and arbitrary detention, while hundreds remain imprisoned, with their families unaware of their fate.
“The report’s findings show the war’s deadly toll on Ukraine’s civilians with almost six people dying and 20 suffering injuries on average every single day. In just six months covered by this report more than one thousand civilians died and nearly four thousand were injured.” said Danielle Bell, head of the UN’s human right monitoring mission in Ukraine.
The UN mission said the war has caused millions of Ukrainian civilians to fall below the poverty line. Their plight has been further exacerbated by broad economic and social harm caused by attacks on vital infrastructure and agricultural facilities.
The destruction of the Khakovka dam in June is one example. The breach triggered major flooding and caused an environmental disaster that will have long-term adverse effects on the rights and well-being of the people living in the area.
“The war has wreaked havoc in the lives of millions of Ukrainians, including children who will have to live with horrific legacy of human loss, physical destruction, environmental damage, particularly contamination from explosive remnants of war, for many years to come,” said Bell.
The UN report said human rights monitors continued to document widespread torture and ill-treatment against civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) by Russian authorities, including severe beatings, electrocution, mock executions, sexual violence and degrading treatment.
Appalling conditions of detention continued, including: lack of food and medical services; overcrowding; poor living conditions and sanitation; sleep deprivation; and no access to the outside world. Russia to date has refused to allow any access to the UN’s human rights monitors.
In contrast, the UN Mission noted that Ukraine continues to grant human rights monitors unfettered access to interned POWs and that conditions in Ukraine’s POW camp near the western city of Lviv have improved.
The report called for further investigation into the deadly attack on the penal colony of Olenivka in late July 2022, which killed 51 Ukrainian prisoners of war and injured at least 139. The report faulted Russia for keeping prisoners of war in the proximity of the front line in violation of international humanitarian law and for not giving the UN access to the site.
In occupied areas, the report provided examples of Russia introducing its own administrative and education systems. Civilians in territory occupied by Russia were under pressure to accept Russian citizenship, with the occupying authorities making access to health care, pensions and other basic benefits dependent on the acceptance of Russian nationality. Male residents of the occupied areas faced intimidation, in an effort to coerce them to join the Russian armed forces, the report said.
The report also raised concern about the fate of Ukrainian children, some of them in institutional care with physical and intellectual disabilities, who were transferred from their regular places of residence to other locations within the areas occupied by Russia or deported to Russia.
The UN report also mentioned cases of children who had been sent to summer camps in Russia with their parents’ purported consent, but then were not returned home. The report noted that Russia to date has failed to identify the children and reunite them with their families, and calls for the return of all deported and transferred individuals, including children and persons with disabilities.
While highlighting progress on some issues in areas controlled by Ukraine, the UN Mission noted the continued prosecution by Ukraine of thousands of individuals accused of collaboration with Russia in areas previously occupied by the Russian armed forces. The accused were often charged and convicted for conduct that could in principle be lawfully compelled by the occupying power under international humanitarian law, it said.
Latest figures - as of September 25, 2023 - from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) put the number of civilian deaths at 9,701 and injuries at 17,748 since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. However, the office notes the number of casualties is likely to be much higher.
Meanwhile, indiscriminate attacks impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure continue in Ukraine, causing death and destruction.
On Thursday, at least 51 people were killed in a Russian attack on a village in northeastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities. The horrific incident - with one of the highest civilian casualty figures in an individual Russian attack since the invasion began - occurred in the village of Hroza in the Kharkiv region. Whether Russian forces shelled the village or fired a missile was not immediately clear.
The top UN humanitarian official in Ukraine has condemned the Russian strike that ripped apart the small rural village. “The images arriving from the locality, home to just above 300 people, are absolutely horrifying,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown said in a statement issued shortly after the attack.
“Intentionally directing an attack against civilians or civilian objects is a war crime. Intentionally launching an attack knowing that it would be disproportionate is a war crime”, she added.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also strongly condemned today’s attack in the Kupiansk district. “Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international humanitarian law and they must stop immediately”, his spokesman said in a statement.
The human rights and humanitarian situation in Ukraine deteriorated rapidly in 2022, after Russia’s invasion escalated eight years of conflict in the east into a full-scale war. The devastation and destruction have been staggering, with some 40 percent of Ukraine’s population now in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. At least 17.6 million people in Ukraine require humanitarian aid this year. Among them are 3.2 million children.
The war in Ukraine has further escalated in 2023, with hostilities ravaging communities in the east, south and north and taking a heavy toll on civilians living close to the front line. The war also has had a devastating impact on the mental health and well-being of children, including millions who had to flee for safety, whether internally or outside.
The conflict has forced many to flee Ukraine, resulting in a humanitarian crisis of a scale not witnessed in Europe for decades. The war in Ukraine has led to one of the two major displacement crises in the world - the other being the Syrian civil war. As of October, at least 11.3 million people are displaced by the war. More than 6.2 million refugees have sought refuge in foreign countries. At least 5.1 million people are displaced within Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created one of the largest humanitarian crises globally. Violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law occurring in the course of the ongoing armed attack are widespread. Millions of civilians fear for their lives. People in Ukraine continue to be killed, wounded and deeply traumatized by the violence.
Further information
Full text: Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, 1 February to 31 July 2023, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, released October 4, 2023
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/coiukraine/23-10-04-OHCHR-36th-periodic-report-ukraine-en.pdf