Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 8th Dec. UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Wednesday said that the suffering experienced by millions of civilians across Ukraine must not become the new normal.
He was speaking in Kyiv, after an official four-day visit to Ukraine Mr. Türk said that the scale of the damage and destruction that he had seen in Izium was “shocking”.
Mr. Volker Türk said that people’s trauma “remains palpable”.
In Bucha, the civilians lying dead in the street triggered international condemnation after Russian forces left in March.
He added that he feared for all those caught up in the “long, bleak winter ahead”, he confirmed that the consequences of the war on human rights in Ukraine had been devastating.
“The prognosis is very worrying,” he said.
Mr. Turk added that his Office has continued to receive information about war crimes “each day”.
“Information continues to emerge about summary executions, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and sexual violence against women, girls and men,” he noted.
The release of a new report into the killings of civilians by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine published at the time of his visit.
The report is expected to document the fate of 441 civilians in parts of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy that were under Russian control until early April, OHCHR stated.
Mr. Turk said that UN monitoring mission is working to corroborate allegations of additional killings in these regions, and in parts of Kharkiv and Kherson regions that were recently retaken by Ukrainian forces.
He noted that some were killed “cutting firewood or buying groceries”.
Rights chief added that there were “strong indications that the summary executions documented in the report, constitute the war crime of willful killing”.
He insisted that on the issue of prisoners of war, they must be treated humanely “at all times”. International law allows for their prosecution only if they are suspected of war crimes, he continued.
Turk stressed that 17.7 million people need humanitarian assistance and 9.3 million require food and livelihood assistance,due to the war in Ukraine.
He added that a third of the population has been forced to flee their homes, 7.9 million have left the country the majority, women and children and 6.5 million people are internally displaced.
OHCHR has recorded 17,181 confirmed civilian casualties in Ukraine: 6,702 killed and 10,479 injured.
He reiterated “Let me stress that the most effective way to stop the running catalogue of cruelty from continuing is to bring an end to this senseless war – in line with the UN Charter and international law.”
“My most fervent wish is for all people in Ukraine to enjoy the right to peace,” Turk concluded
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