Fear and chaos in eastern Ukraine

UN experts with anxiously notes the growth of armed confrontation in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions

The UN Human Rights Office were published by the third report of its monitoring group of 34 people about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine . The document covers the period from May 7 to June 7, marked by the strengthening of hostilities in the east of the country and the attack on the rights of the Ukrainian -language part of the population of Crimea. A separate section of the report applies to the investigation of the tragic May events in Odessa.

Since mid -April, 356 people were killed in Ukraine, of which 257 civilians and 86 Ukrainian troops, a senior representative of the UN Dzhanny Magatsien, told reporters at the presentation of the report. The document with anxiety states the growth of the armed confrontation in the east of Ukraine, the participation of residents of Chechnya and other republics of the Caucasus, which the rebels themselves recognize. According to Magatzoren, "chaos reigned in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, there, if not terror, then fear runs there today." There are cases when the separatists without any reason opened fire on civilians for peaceful citizens. Or when they executed their comrades without trial, if they refused to fight.

As of June 6, Ukrainian social services identified 12 thousand 700 forced migrants in the country. However, according to UN observers who fled from hostilities and terror in Donetsk and Lugansk, in fact, more, and their number increases daily. Another department of the UN, in charge of the affairs of refugees, reports that from the beginning of the conflict, 34 thousand people have been in the position of displaced persons. Basically, these are those Ukrainians who did not want to accept Russian citizenship, for which they were oppressed and discrimination and left their native places.

The report contains increasing difficulties that media employees face when fulfilling their professional duty. This applies, first of all, the East of the country, where the physical security of journalists became problematic. The deep concern of observers cause streams of hatred that overwhelm social networks in Ukraine and exacerbate a split in society. At the request of Radio Liberty, the UN Supreme Commissariat reported by the expert of Human Rights Watch Rachel Denber :

I hear the question with whose position the UN report is closed - with government or anti -government. I can say that this question is incorrect

“Here and there I hear the question with whose position the UN report is closed-with government or anti-government. I can say that this issue is incorrect. The UN task is to be impartial, and not to take someone's side in the conflict. To attract attention to violations of the human rights, whoever committed them, and demand to attract the perpetrators to the response. Anyway, observers could not pass by that abduction, extortion, detention, beating, and sometimes torture and murders that repair anti -government forces, deeply overshadow the existence of the entire population of Donetsk and Lugansk, although, of course, public activists, employees of information, election commissions, authorities and management remain the main objects of intimidation. ”

According to the authors of the report, during the week preceding the presidential elections, acts of violence occurred daily, only participating on the voting day. The armed persons broke into polling stations, threatened their employees, sometimes beat or abducted them. The raiders also took computers, voter lists, ballot boxes. A number of sites were forced to closed, and many voters, thus, were actually deprived of the right to vote.

The authors also express concern that the Ukrainian army sometimes departs from the international norms of warfare

“If we talk about how the government is enduring the law, the UN report lists cases of violations of the rights of persons undergoing detention, including employees of the Russian media, as well as the disappearance of people during the anti -terrorist operation,” Rachel Denber continues. “The authors also express concern that the Ukrainian army sometimes retreats from war and uses the force of abnormal It leads to innocent victims among the civilian population and material damage. "

A separate section of the report applies to the investigation of the tragic May events in Odessa. On Wednesday evening, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia spread the commentary of its official representative Alexander Lukashevich, which many Russian media interpreted as follows: "UN observers admitted that the" right sector "finished the wounded in Odessa ..." However, this is what is actually said in the text of the document: The HRMMU HAS Received From Credible Resources that some “pro-unity” Protesteers beating up “Pro-Federalism” Supporters as the Were Escape the Trade Union Building, While Others Were Trying Trying Try Help Them. That is, there are no references to the “Right Sector” in the document: “According to information from reliable resources, some supporters of the unity of Ukraine beat supporters of federalization when they tried to get out of the building of the House of Trade Unions, while others tried to help them.”

We still do not know the reasons for the inaction or passivity of law enforcement agencies and firefighters; We do not know who is guilty of the murders committed on the day of May 2, and in the arson of the House of Trade Unions, which happened in the evening

Rachel Denber also briefly commented on the report on the investigation of events on May 2 in Odessa. "What is the human rights community to blame the Ukrainian authorities in terms of investigating the Odessa tragedy? In the fact that neither the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor state security in the capital or at the scene of the incident inform the human rights defenders about the producing investigative actions. The public takes the opportunity to independently evaluate the course of the investigation. We still do not know the reasons for the inaction or passivity of the law enforcement agency and the passivity of the law enforcement agency and the passivity we do not know who are guilty of the murders committed on May 2, and in the fabric of the house of trade unions, we do not know whether the authorities of the victims of the incident are observed and the rights of the UN and the human rights community were unpleasantly surprised when the authorities immediately laid down all the guilt for the clashes and deaths of the guns and the deaths of the deaths and deaths of the crowds and deaths of the crowds and the death Opponents of the Kyiv government, having removed all responsibility from its supporters, ”said Rachel Denber.

The UN does not recognize the annexation of Crimea, and therefore the lighting of the state of human rights on the peninsula was also included in the mandate of the monitoring group. During the reporting period, the general situation with civilian freedoms in the Crimea (freedom of speech, peaceful meetings, associations, religion) underwent a noticeable deterioration, said Rachel Denber from Human Rights Watch. The so -called "pro -Ukrainian elements" are faced with discrimination in educational institutions and at work. Leaders and activists of the indigenous Crimean Tatar population are experiencing and infringing on their cultural and national rights.