By Erol Avdovic
NEW YORK
More than 60 people a day have been killed or wounded since mid-April in eastern Ukraine, according to the estimates of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“On average, at least 70 people a day were reported killed or wounded between 30 July and 5 August; at least 41 killed and 143 wounded were reported on 7 August alone,” Andre-Michel Essoungou, public information officer from High Commissioner Navi Pillay's offic,e told Anadolu Agency in New York on Wednesday.
He said Ukraine had seen “a clear escalating trend recently," with a growing death toll reported in the last two weeks.
However, one should “note that these totals - which include Ukrainian armed forces, civilians and armed groups - are very conservative estimates,” Essongou clarified.
“At least 2,086 persons (including at least 20 children) have been killed and at least 4,953 (including at least 30 children) wounded in the fighting in east Ukraine since mid-April until 10 August,” he added.
However, there is not a precise statistics on all those killed or injured, and, he said, UN regrets that they do not have all the victims properly counted – especially on the side of the civilians.
“For instance, civilian casualties are likely to be under reported, due to the continuing insecurity which prevents affected people from getting access to medical aid,” Essongou said.
He said one of the reasons for this was that "communication channels have been disrupted.”
Unrest in eastern Ukraine has torn the region apart since April, when the government launched "anti-terror" operations against armed separatists seeking to break away from Ukraine following the annexation of Crimea into Russia in March.
Recently, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Simonovic, also said that several dozens of people were being killed or wounded every day in Ukraine, but he felt short of calling it a major humanitarian crisis.
In a recent interview with the Anadolu Agency, Simonovic said the latest report of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, covering the period between 7 May and 7 June, “provides an accurate assessment of the human rights situation in Ukraine.”
Political solution
He said UN reports contained allegations of human rights violations committed by the government as well as human rights abuses by the armed groups.
The reports include “documented cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention on the part of government security forces,” said Simonovic, adding UN is following a standard and accurate procedure.
“We report on what we see; and what we see in the eastern parts of Ukraine is a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation that is having an impact on the whole of the country,” Simonovic told the AA last month.
The spokesman for the UN Secretary General said on Tuesday that the United Nations team in Ukraine was “working with the government to see how they can help on the humanitarian front.”
Stephane Dujarric said the Secretary-General’s calls to all parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine "have been clear” from the beginning.
They have “to sit down and reach a settlement and settle their differences peacefully,” Dujarric said.
www.aa.com.tr/en
