Hostilities, human rights violations continue in Ukraine: OHCHR

Hostilities, human rights violations and abuses continued in eastern Ukraine despite the announcement of the Sep 5 ceasefire, a report released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Thursday.

The seventh monthly report, which covered the period from Sep 17 to Oct 31, noted that civilians have continued to be killed, unlawfully detained, tortured and disappeared in eastern Ukraine, and the number of internally displaced people in the country has risen considerably, Xinhua reported.

Statistics from the UN human rights office showed that from mid-April to Nov 18, at least 4,317 people were killed and 9,921 wounded in the conflict-affected area of eastern Ukraine.

The fragile ceasefire did not call a halt to the sufferings borne by local people, said the UN agency.

The report highlighted that from Sep 6 to Nov 18, over 900 fatalities were recorded, and the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) has also sharply increased from over 270,000 as of Sep 18 to over 460,000 Nov 19.

The report warned that violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law persisted and the situation in the conflict-affected area was becoming increasingly entrenched.

It spotlighted serious human rights abuses that included torture, ill-treatment and arbitrary detention, the alleged use of cluster munitions in both urban and rural areas, and the discovery of mass graves in the eastern region, etc.

The UN human rights office urged for prompt investigations, accountability and an end to impunity, as well as effective remedies to victims, noting that all these were vital to ensure peace, reconciliation and long term recovery.

--Indo-Asian News service

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