By Oyintari Ben
On Friday, Volker Turk, the head of the U.N. human rights office, said that grave human rights abuses were “shockingly routine” during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that the number of civilian dead was much higher.
Turk claimed that in the face of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was a country that was “struggling to survive” when speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“Serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have become shockingly prevalent after 13 months of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine,” he said.
People all around the nation “face enormous pain and loss, squalor, displacement, and destruction.”
Fighting continues in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces control large portions of the region they seized during their invasion in February of last year.
Accusations that Russia’s forces have committed atrocities have been repeatedly refuted.
More than 8,400 civilian fatalities and more than 14,000 civilian injuries have been confirmed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Turk remarked, “These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg.” The majority of the casualties were caused by Russian forces using weapons with a large area of effect in civilian areas.
To safeguard human rights worldwide, only the United Nations Human Rights Council is composed of governments. Although it lacks the authority to make laws, its discussions can lead to inquiries that provide information to domestic and international courts.
A proposal to broaden and extend the authority of a U.N. investigation panel established to look into potential atrocities in Ukraine is anticipated to be adopted by the Council next week.
The formation of a special court to try Russia’s political and military elites for the invasion has been demanded by Ukrainian authorities, who claim that doing so is necessary to hold Russia accountable.
