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Hostilities and related human rights violations and abuses continued in eastern Ukraine despite the announcement of the Sept. 5 ceasefire, said a latest report released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Thursday.
The seventh monthly report, which covered the period from Sept. 17 to Oct. 31 this year, 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.
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 organ, highlighting that from Sept. 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 Sept. 18 to over 460,000 on 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.
The report also shed light on the compromised economic, social and cultural rights for Ukrainians resulting from the drawn-out conflict, having particularly stressing the threat of interrupted treatment of nearly 60,000 HIV-positive and around 11,600 multi-drug resistant tuberculosis patients in all regions, due to non-completed tenders for the purchase of essential life-saving medicine.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein expressed his deep dismay at the absence of significant progress on accountability for violations and abuses perpetrated so far, and for continued violations of the ceasefire.
"The list of victims keeps growing. Civilians, including women, children, minorities and a range of vulnerable individuals and groups continue to suffer the consequences of the political stalemate in Ukraine," Zeid said in a statement.
The UN human rights chief said that the gravely insufficient respect of the ceasefire, with continued outbreaks of fightings and shellings, caused an average of 13 people a day being killed during the first eight weeks of the ceasefire.
He appealed all parties to the conflict to "make a far more whole-hearted effort to resolve this protracted crisis peacefully and in line with international human rights laws and standards." Enditem
