UN rights chief fears for Ukrainians
Published: 04:09 PM,Sep 09,2024 | EDITED : 08:09 PM,Sep 09,2024
A firefighter works in the yard of a destroyed house following the shelling, in the Donetsk region. — Reuters
GENEVA: The United Nations' human rights commissioner on Monday condemned Russia's repeated attacks on Ukraine's energy facilities and said he feared for civilians there this winter.
Volker Turk said the population is 'trapped in cycles of terror, through ongoing attacks by the Russian Federation striking civilian facilities like hospitals, schools and supermarkets, and repeated waves of targeting of energy infrastructure leading to countrywide blackouts. 'I fear for Ukrainians this coming winter,' he told the UN Human Rights Council.
Turk said he was troubled by the impact on civilians of the recent escalation in fighting, including in the Russian region of Kursk.
Ukrainian forces made a large-scale push into the region, which borders Ukraine, on August 6.
Turk's office said it had asked Russian authorities last month for access to areas of the country affected by the conflict, including Belgorod, Briansk and Kursk.
But he said Monday that Moscow had declined their request.
When asked if the UN rights office had also asked Ukraine for access to Kursk or other Russian areas under its control, spokeswoman Liz Throssell told AFP that it had not.
'Our position is that access to the territory of the Russian Federation would be requested through Russian authorities. Access to the territory of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation would need to be facilitated through Ukrainian officials,' she said in an email. 'We would access Russian territory through Russia and Ukrainian territory through Ukraine.'
More than 1,000 people have been killed or wounded by cluster munitions in Ukraine since Russia launched its war, a monitor said on Monday, urging all countries to ban the weapons.
Since Russia began its full-scale attack of its western neighbour in February 2022, Ukraine has registered the highest number of recorded annual cluster munition casualties in the world, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) said in its annual report.
It said cluster bombs had been used in Ukraine by both sides and the weapons had killed and wounded more than 1,000 people there since the war began.
The vast majority of casualties were registered in 2022. But the report stressed that the figure for 2023 was probably a dramatic underestimate.
Cluster munitions can be dropped from planes or fired from artillery before exploding in mid-air and scattering bomblets over a wide area. They pose a lasting threat, as many fail to explode on impact, effectively acting as landmines that explode years later. In Ukraine, more farmland is now contaminated by cluster munition remnants than by landmines, the report said. — AFP
Volker Turk said the population is 'trapped in cycles of terror, through ongoing attacks by the Russian Federation striking civilian facilities like hospitals, schools and supermarkets, and repeated waves of targeting of energy infrastructure leading to countrywide blackouts. 'I fear for Ukrainians this coming winter,' he told the UN Human Rights Council.
Turk said he was troubled by the impact on civilians of the recent escalation in fighting, including in the Russian region of Kursk.
Ukrainian forces made a large-scale push into the region, which borders Ukraine, on August 6.
Turk's office said it had asked Russian authorities last month for access to areas of the country affected by the conflict, including Belgorod, Briansk and Kursk.
But he said Monday that Moscow had declined their request.
When asked if the UN rights office had also asked Ukraine for access to Kursk or other Russian areas under its control, spokeswoman Liz Throssell told AFP that it had not.
'Our position is that access to the territory of the Russian Federation would be requested through Russian authorities. Access to the territory of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation would need to be facilitated through Ukrainian officials,' she said in an email. 'We would access Russian territory through Russia and Ukrainian territory through Ukraine.'
More than 1,000 people have been killed or wounded by cluster munitions in Ukraine since Russia launched its war, a monitor said on Monday, urging all countries to ban the weapons.
Since Russia began its full-scale attack of its western neighbour in February 2022, Ukraine has registered the highest number of recorded annual cluster munition casualties in the world, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) said in its annual report.
It said cluster bombs had been used in Ukraine by both sides and the weapons had killed and wounded more than 1,000 people there since the war began.
The vast majority of casualties were registered in 2022. But the report stressed that the figure for 2023 was probably a dramatic underestimate.
Cluster munitions can be dropped from planes or fired from artillery before exploding in mid-air and scattering bomblets over a wide area. They pose a lasting threat, as many fail to explode on impact, effectively acting as landmines that explode years later. In Ukraine, more farmland is now contaminated by cluster munition remnants than by landmines, the report said. — AFP