OHCHR records 3,339 civilian casualties in Donbas since 2014 – report

Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine Matilda Bogner stated this while presenting a report on the human rights situation in Ukraine between May 16 and August 15, 2019, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Between 16 May and 15 August 2019, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 68 conflict-related civilian casualties: eight killed (four men and four women) and 60 injured (thirty-one men, 20 women, six girls and three boys), a 51.1 per cent increase compared with the previous reporting period of 16 February to 15 May 2019 when 45 civilian casualties (10 killed and 35 injured) were recorded. Of them, 56 were caused by combat activities. The total civilian death toll of the conflict reached at least 3,339 as of 15 August 2019,” the report says.

The recommitment to the ‘unlimited’ ceasefire from 21 July 2019, agreed by the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, resulted in a decrease of hostilities and substantial reduction in civilian casualties. “One casualty that occurred after the ceasefire was caused by a mine,” the head of the UN Monitoring Mission said.

She noted that mines and explosive remnants of war on both sides of the contact line killed three civilians and injured nine during the reporting period.

As known, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine was deployed in 2014. The Mission conducts remote monitoring of the human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. Every quarter the Mission publishes a report on the human rights situation in Ukraine.

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