U.N. human rights monitors find that almost three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the human rights situation in the country and areas occupied by Russia is on a downward spiral, as military operations intensify, civilian casualties rise, and torture, summary executions and other gross violations proliferate.
“The human rights situation remains bleak with a still-rising number of civilian casualties, continued executions and torture of prisoners of war, and efforts by Russia to solidify its control of occupied Ukrainian territory,” according to the new report by the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, HRMMU.
The report, released Tuesday by the U.N. Human Rights Office, covers key developments in the human rights situation between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, 2024. It’s based on information gathered in the course of dozens of field trips and visits to detention centers, as well as interviews with more than 800 victims and witnesses of human rights violations.
“Behind each of the facts and figures in this report are stories of loss and human suffering, showing the devastating impact of the war across Ukraine,” said HRMUU chief Danielle Bell in a statement issued from Kyiv to coincide with the release of the report.
She said HRMMU teams documented 574 civilian deaths, and more than 3,000 civilians injured over the three-month period, adding that September marked the highest monthly casualty toll since July 2022.
The report attributes the surge in civilian deaths primarily to “intensified military operations” by Russian armed forces, especially in Kherson, Donetsk and other Russian government-controlled areas of Kharkiv.
“The use of aerial glide bombs and short-range drones contributed to the high number of civilian casualties and harm to communities,” the report says, noting that in mid-November, Russian armed forces began conducting large-scale coordinated aerial attacks against Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure.
“The attacks disrupted electricity and dependent services such as water, heating, and transportation services in multiple regions,” it says, “further diminishing Ukraine’s energy capacity as winter approached.”
There was no immediate response to the report from Russian or Ukrainian officials.
A spokeswoman for the U.N. Human Rights Office tells VOA the office “sent the report to the Russian Federation in advance of its publication, as per usual practice. We did not receive any comments from them.”
Ukrainian POWs subjected to sexual violence
The report finds torture, and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the hands of the Russian Federation, “has been widespread and systematic.” It says 42 recently released Ukrainian POWs have presented “credible and detailed accounts” of torture they had experienced, “including beatings, electric shock, and prolonged solitary confinement” during their captivity.
It says the use of sexual violence is prevalent against both women and men, with many being subjected to “rape, electric shocks and beating to genitals, forced nudity, and threats of rape and castration.”
Since the end of August, U.N. monitors have recorded a significant increase in “credible allegations of executions of Ukrainian POWs,” involving the killing of 62 individuals in 19 incidents. The U.N. human rights office has verified “the execution of 15 Ukrainian servicemen.”
While Russian POWs also have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment by Ukrainian authorities, authors of the report say this has occurred to a much lesser extent and predominantly while prisoners “were held in transit facilities during the early stages of captivity.”
It adds that the Human Rights Office documented the death of one Russian POW at a transit facility in early 2024 caused by torture and is looking into the deaths of two other Russian POWs under similar circumstances.
The report also examines the treatment of civilians in territory occupied by the Russian Federation in Ukraine and in Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
Imposing Russian identity
Authors of the report accuse Russia of entrenching its control in the occupied territory through the imposition of Russian laws, in violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law, “resulting in further restrictions to fundamental rights and freedoms, property ownership, and cultural rights.”
They cite the example of a new strategy adopted by the Russian authorities in September “to compel Ukrainian children and youth in occupied territory to demonstrate loyalty to the Russian Federation.” The strategy involves the training of children in military skills as part of their summer recreational activities and the use of propaganda in education.
“Over the 2024 summer, Russian occupying authorities sent children from occupied territory of Ukraine to camps in Crimea and in the Russian Federation, where both girls and boys received military training and participated in activities focused on reinforcement of Russian patriotism and identity,” in violation of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law, they say.
The report lambasts the Russian Federation as the occupying authority for restricting religious freedom and for restricting freedom of expression “to silence criticism of Russian military actions.”
The report also finds fault with provisions adopted by the Ukrainian government in the territories they control that “prohibit the activities of Ukrainian religious organizations affiliated with counterparts in the Russian Federation.”
These provisions, the authors say, disproportionately restrict the free expression of one’s religion or belief and “should be amended to align fully with international human rights law.”
