Address of the Committee on Human Rights to the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe and cooperation in Europe
Informatiion Department
14 March 2022, 12:36
Address of the Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk, Luhansk Oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the City of Sevastopol, National Minorities and International Relations to the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe and cooperation in Europe
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. Since the beginning of the military invasion, the aggressor state has consistently violated international humanitarian law, including the norms of four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and its additional protocols, which guarantee the protection of civilians during war. On March 2, 2022, the UN General Assembly, in its Resolution "Aggression against Ukraine", expressed concern at reports of attacks on civilian objects, such as housing, schools and hospitals, as well as civilian casualties, including women, the elderly and human beings with disabilities and children.
Contrary to the above, the Russian Federation has not only continued to engage in hostilities against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine, but has significantly intensified them, turning them into systematic and large-scale crimes against humanity under the International Military Tribunal and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
During the military invasion of Mariupol, Volnovakha, Shchastya, Kharkiv, Izyum, Chuguiv, Chernihiv, Gostomel, Bucha, Irpin, Severodonetsk, Sumy, Okhtyrka and others suffered extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure (hospitals, schools, kindergartens, etc). Residents of these cities have been in shelters for a long time, they lack food, there is no telephone communication, water supply, electricity, heating, medical care. In their complex, all these factors have caused a real humanitarian catastrophe.
On March 9, 2022, the aggressor state violated all possible norms and principles of morality by striking at an orphanage and a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Donetsk region. The fact that another failed attempt to evacuate civilians from the city on the same day in a ceasefire added to the cynicism of this event. Unfortunately, the humanitarian corridor came under massive shelling, and the evacuation never took place.
As of March 10, 2022, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 71 children have died and about 100 children have been injured.
These circumstances indicate not only cruelty to civilians, but also intentional and deliberate actions of the aggressor state. De facto, there is genocide of the Ukrainian people, defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
In accordance with the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 relating to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and their Additional Protocols, as well as generally accepted norms of international law, persons who do not take an active part in hostilities must be treated humanely, without any hostile discrimination based on race, colour, religion or belief, sex, origin or property status, or any other similar criteria. However, despite the agreements reached on the creation of humanitarian corridors, buses with evacuees are constantly blocked and subjected to massive shelling by representatives of the aggressor state. The Russian Federation is neglecting its responsibilities and is constantly violating the ceasefire during the evacuation of civilians.
Given the above, we appeal:
* to urgently take all necessary actions to open safe humanitarian corridors on the territory of Ukraine for evacuation of civilians from settlements under constant fire launched by the Russian Federation, guarantee security during evacuation, as well as protection of humanitarian workers in accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law;
* to demand that the Russian Federation adhere to the agreements and assist in rapid, safe and unhindered access to humanitarian assistance to those in need in Ukraine, including women, the elderly, people with disabilities and children;
* to influence the Russian Federation so that it complies with the provisions of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), of 8 June 1977.