Over 6,400 killed in Ukraine, severe rights violations: UN

Over 6,400 people had been killed so far in conflict-ravaged Ukraine and despite a slowdown in fighting there are alarming reports of severe violations of human rights by armed groups and government, which, if confirmed would constitute war crimes, the UN today said.
The UN human rights office, in a latest report, said that between mid-April 2014 and May 30 this year at least 6,417 people, including 626 women and girls, have been documented as killed and 15,962 as wounded in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned that this could be a conservative estimate and the actual numbers could be considerably higher.

The latest report, which covers the period from mid-February to mid-May, documented severe violations of human rights in eastern Ukraine by both armed groups and the Ukrainian government.
"The mission has also documented a number of summary executions, particularly perpetrated by the armed groups. We are following up on these cases, including some allegations of summary executions perpetrated by Ukrainian armed forces. These allegations are extremely alarming and if confirmed, they would represent clear evidence of war crimes," said Ivan Simonovic, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights releasing the report.
The tenth report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said that civilians are facing serious rights abuses including killings, torture and ill-treatment, as well as detention, forced labour, looting, ransom demands and extortion.

"While there are allegations of torture, ransoms and executions against the armed groups, on the governmental side there are allegations of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, executions etc, affecting five million residents in the conflict-affected areas," it said.

"We have documented alarming reports of summary executions by armed groups and are looking into similar allegations against Ukrainian armed forces. We also have horrific accounts of torture and ill-treatment in detention, both by armed groups and Ukrainian law enforcers," said Zeid AlRaad Hussain, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in a statement.
The report said that though indiscriminate shelling has decreased significantly, armed hostilities between Ukrainian armed forces and armed groups, especially around the vicinity of the Donetsk airport and contested regions of Shyrokyne in the Donetsk region, have seen an escalation of hostilities after April 11.

Fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian armed groups is continuing, and civilians are still dying from landmines and unexploded ordnance, it said.
The report also documents increasing evidence of involvement of some active servicemen in armed activities in the territory of Ukraine.
"The parliament of Ukraine on May 21 adopted a decision to derogate from several human rights obligations under international and regional treaties in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk. In current context where we have serious concerns about arbitrary detention and freedom of movement this could further worsen the situation," said Simonovic.
The report also warned that the conflict was taking a devastating toll on people's everyday lives, with vital services cut and many sources of income dried up.