Russia denies its soldiers are fighting in eastern Ukraine, and it says those fighting with pro-Russian rebels are volunteers. Since Ukrainian armed forces captured two Russians last month, the Kremlin has refused to acknowledge them as members of the regular Russian army.
But U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic said monitors who interviewed the Russian soldiers in private on May 21 reached a different conclusion.
“There is increasing evidence that active servicemen from Russian Federation may be operating in Ukraine," said Simonovic. "In these cases, we have to be very cautious because the same persons who were visited are subject ... to national Ukrainian criminal investigation and they are charged with terrorism ... and, of course, those people are between a rock and hard place because also the Russian Federation is closely watching what they are saying or not saying.”
Heavy weapons, fighters
Simonovic said there also are reports of sophisticated heavy weaponry and fighters being supplied from the Russian Federation.
The report finds more than 6,400 people have been killed and nearly 16,000 wounded in eastern Ukraine between mid-April 2014 and May 30 of this year. It said this is a conservative estimate and the actual numbers are likely to be higher. It also says 1.2 million people are internally displaced and hundreds of thousands of others have sought refuge in Russia and other countries.
The report finds a notable decrease in indiscriminate shelling since the adoption of the Minsk peace agreements on February 12. It adds the shelling has not stopped, however, and civilians continue to live in fear.
The report documents serious human rights abuses. Simonovic told VOA there are allegations both sides may have committed war crimes, but documentation of such crimes is greater in areas held by the pro-Russian rebels.
“By armed groups, there is an allegation of killings, torture, ill-treatment, forced labor, looting, ransom, extortion of money. For both sides, we have some allegations — and in case of armed groups, some documentation — of summary executions. For the governmental side, we have allegations that we still investigate and work on,” said Simonovic.
The report says human rights violations have continued in Crimea since Russia annexed the peninsula on March 4, 2014. It notes that arrests, ill-treatment, torture, and intimidation are perpetrated against political opponents, primarily the Crimean Tatar community.
Lisa Schlein
voanews.com
1/6/15
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Increase of death toll in east Ukraine, says UN report...
ReplyDeleteWhile at least 6,417 people have been killed in more than 13 months of fighting in eastern Ukraine, serious human rights violations and abuses persisted in the region, the UN said on Monday in a report.
Between mid-April 2014 and May 2015, at least 6,417 people have been killed - an increase of at least 300 people since its last report in mid-April 2015 - and 15,962 others were wounded in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine, the report said.
"This is a conservative estimate and the actual numbers could be considerably higher," noted the tenth report of the UN Human Rights Office on Ukraine, which covers the period from Feb. 16 to May 15 2015.
"More than 1.2 million people internally displaced since the beginning of the conflict suffer from impeded access to healthcare, housing and employment," the report indicated.
"Serious human rights violations and abuses [...] persist in eastern Ukraine, including shelling, executions, arbitrary and illegal detentions, torture, ill-treatment, human trafficking and the lack of justice and accountability, as well as deprivation of economic and social rights that are deeply affecting the five million people living in the conflict-affected areas," said the report.
Residents of the territories controlled by the armed groups continue to be increasingly isolated from the rest of Ukraine and suffer from a lack of protection in the absence of the rule of law, the report said.
"Even with the decrease in hostilities, civilians continue to be killed and wounded," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement.
Russia denies claims that it is supporting separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine despite evidence that Russian troops are operating across the border and that attacks have been launched on Ukrainian troops from Russian soil.
Crimea
In Crimea, "serious human rights abuses, intimidation and harassment of the local population perpetrated by the armed groups continued to be reported," said Ivan Simonovic, assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, speaking at the press conference at UN in Geneva on Monday..............http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/520547--increase-of-death-toll-in-east-ukraine-says-un-report
1/6/15