Rights expert calls to stop deliberate destruction of culture in Ukraine

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau

UNITED NATIONS, 23rd Feb. UN top rights experts on Wednesday issued a strong appeal to stop deliberate destruction of Ukraine cultural treasures by Russian force after new missile hit the eastern city of Kharkiv.

The rights experts expressed concern at the “continued denigration of the history and identity of Ukrainian people as a justification for war and hatred”.

They cited reports that culturally significant locations in Ukraine had been intentionally targeted, when they should be protected, in accordance with international law, the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

The experts reiterated that important Ukrainian cultural locations that have been hit include buildings “clearly marked” as shelters for residents, including children, as well as museums, libraries and churches.

“The indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on densely populated areas, and the damage caused to civilian infrastructure in the process, are of such magnitude as to suggest a deliberate campaign of destruction,” the experts said in a statement.

According to UNESCO, over 240 Ukrainian heritage sites are estimated to have been damaged in the war.

The rights experts said that the true number of attacks could be over 1,000.

“Repositories of Ukrainian literature, museums, and historical archives – are being destroyed, and there is a widespread narrative of demonisation and denigration of Ukrainian culture and identity promoted by Russian officials, along with calls for ideological repression and strict censorship in the political, cultural and educational spheres. Let us be clear: the Ukrainian people have a right to their identity. Nobody can violate this right.”

The experts said that efforts were being made “to erase local culture, history and language” in cultural and educational institutions in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, annexed by Russia in March 2014.

The communities faced seeing them replaced with Russian language and with Russian and Soviet history and culture.

“Ukrainian history books and literature deemed to be ‘extremist’ have been seized from public libraries in cities and towns in the occupied territory of Luhansk, Donetsk, Chernihiv, and Sumy Oblasts and destroyed by the occupying power,” the experts reported. “

The same has been reported about school history manuals in certain cities.”