I was invited to speak as head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. During the hearing, I spoke of what the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission has observed over the last two years. Our teams work on both sides of the contact line, with all parties to the armed conflict. We meet and interview victims of, and witnesses to, violations of international human rights law.
Due to the conflict, we estimate that over 9,000 people have been killed and over 20,000 injured – Ukrainian armed forces, civilians and members of armed groups.
Up to 2,000 civilians from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were killed.
The cease-fire is precarious. Hostilities are ongoing near the contact line. The military are present near homes, schools or hospitals. This disrupts and endangers the daily lives of people, including children. They become a potential target. This risks more casualties and displacement.
Some 3 million people still live in conflict-affected areas. They are all Ukrainian citizens. Communities are divided; families separated. People living in those areas have repeatedly told me and colleagues that they just feel abandoned – that no one cares for them. This incremental feeling of isolation emboldens those who promote enmity and violence and undermines prospects for peace.
In this insecure environment, life continues for those living in areas controlled by armed groups. Babies are born; students graduate; couples marry; people die.
With this, they obtain civil registration documentation issued by the so-called “authorities” in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Recent legislation adopted by parliament foresees such documentation as being recognized through a court procedure. While welcome, this process is still cumbersome for many. The impact of not having basic civil documentation is immense: children without a birth certificate are ineligible for child benefits, social or health-care services and risk being declared stateless. A simplified administrative procedure is urgently needed. We should understand that people who live in the territories under armed group control are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses. We hear first-hand accounts of arbitrary detention, torture and incommunicado detention by armed groups. People have little means to seek redress and no meaningful voice.
At the same, in Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhya, we have also documented allegations of enforced disappearances, arbitrary and incommunicado detention, and torture by Ukrainian law enforcement officials.
On both sides of the contact line we are often approached by people looking for relatives who are missing in the conflict zone. Throughout Ukraine, people struggle to understand why such little information is available on the fate of missing loved ones. Meanwhile, up to 1,000 bodies in Government morgues remain unidentified. Commitment is required by all parties to the conflict to fully cooperate to solve such cases.
Last week, I outlined these and other human rights concerns to the Verhovna Rada and made concrete recommendations. Ukrainians need to see the full adherence to the ceasefire to save lives. Government authorities must take all possible steps to document and investigate human rights violations, even when they are committed in areas controlled by the armed groups. There is a need to establish a mechanism to exchange information about the whereabouts of missing persons, and to provide unimpeded access to this information to relatives.
In June and November 2015, Ukraine notified the United Nations secretary general of its intention to derogate from several provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a foundational human rights treaty.
This may deprive nearly 6 million people of certain rights in places like Krasny Lyman, Kramatorsk and Mariupol. Even in areas that the Government does not control, Ukraine still has human rights obligations towards its citizens. Such a derogation cannot be indefinite. It must be periodically reviewed, ensuring that it is lifted – or limited to a smaller geographic area – as soon as it is no longer strictly required. Ensuring that Ukrainians living on either side of the contact line can exercise their rights will alleviate their isolation, remove a core driver of grievances against the Government, and counter the narrative of those who promote violence.
On March 3, we will be releasing a report documenting human rights developments over the last three months. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stands ready to assist the government to fulfill its human rights obligations, to listen to victims and witnesses of human rights abuses, and to give a voice to those who have been silenced, separated by an arbitrary line, or feel isolated. All Ukrainians should hear them.
Fiona Frazer is head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
