UN Human Rights Briefing by Matilda Bogner head of the UN Human Rights monitoring mission in Ukraine

STORYLINE

At the bi-weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Matilda Bogner, Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, briefed journalists on the violations perpetrated in the past two months in Ukraine. 

“Since 24 February, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has been documenting serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross violations of human rights law in the country. Many of these allegations concern violations that may amount to war crimes,” Bogner said.

Last week, Matilda Bogner and her colleagues visited 14 towns in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions that were occupied by Russian Armed Forces until the end of March.

“People told us of relatives, neighbours and friends killed, injured, detained and disappeared. In Makariv, a family of five was shot at by Russian armed forces as they tried to leave with their neighbours by car. Sadly, only two members of the family survived,” she added.

“In the village of Yahidne in Chernihiv region, we met a 70-year-old man who spent 24 days in the basement of a local school.  Again, you can see that here that is the door that says: be careful there are children inside. That was the entrance to the basement where he was located. He told us with tears in his eyes that he shared a 76 square metre room with 138 other people, the youngest was just two months old. The space was so crowded that he had to sleep standing up and so tied himself to wooden rails so as not to fall down,” Bogner said.

“In Bucha and other settlements to the north of Kyiv that were occupied by Russian armed forces, we have reports of the unlawful killing of over 300 men, women and children. Unfortunately, these numbers will continue to grow as we visit more areas,” she said.

To date, the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has corroborated 7,061 civilian casualties, with 3,381 killed and 3,680 injured across the country since the beginning of the armed attack by the Russian Federation. The actual figures are higher, and the Mission is working to corroborate every single incident.

“We continue to receive allegations of rape, including gang rape, attempted rape, forced nudity, threats of sexual violence against civilian women and girls, men and boys. Women and girls are the most frequently cited victims. During my recent visit to towns north of Kyiv, we documented a number of cases of sexual violence. A Russian soldier raped and killed a woman in one town that we visited. The same soldier then attempted to rape the woman’s neighbour. Her husband intervened but was then shot in the stomach by the soldier. He later died,” she said.

“In general, however, we found that victims of sexual violence and their families and friends are reluctant to speak due to stigma. The wishes of victims, who are usually women and girls, must be respected. Over time the scale of these violations will become clearer,” Bogner added. 

Throughout Ukraine, the hostilities have damaged at least 50 Christian, Jewish and Muslim places of worship of different denominations. More than half of the buildings have been destroyed and cannot be used anymore.

The high number of civilian casualties and the extent of destruction and damage to civilian objects strongly suggest violations of the principle of distinction, the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks, the principles of proportionality and precaution.

Since 24 February, the Monitoring Mission has documented 204 cases of enforced disappearance (169 men, 34 women, 1 boy), the overwhelming majority of them by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups.

“We have received credible information of torture, ill-treatment and incommunicado detention by Ukrainian Armed Forces against prisoners of war from Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups. We continue to see the publication of videos, which show inhumane treatment, including prisoners from both sides being coerced to make statements, apologies and confessions, and other forms of humiliation. This violates fundamental rules of international humanitarian law. Ukraine and Russia must promptly and effectively investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of war. They must also effectively control and instruct their forces to stop any further violations from occurring,” Bogner stressed.

For more information and media requests, please contact:  Ravina Shamdasani + 41 22 917 9169/ravina.shamdasani@un.org  or Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org

 Tag and share - Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights