Update on the human rights situation in Ukraine, 24 February – 26 March 2022

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched an armed attack on Ukraine, which led to a grave deterioration in the human rights situation across the country. The conduct of hostilities by the Russian armed forces has been characterized by the broad use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, missile, and air strikes. There have also been allegations that Ukrainian armed forces have engaged in shelling of populated areas in territory controlled by Russian affiliated armed groups in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) was able to verify that, by 26 March 2022, the hostilities had resulted in at least 2,909 civilian casualties, including 1,119 killed, and hundreds of residential houses, hospitals, schools, kindergartens, and other civilian objects damaged or destroyed. Actual casualty numbers are much higher. The intensive and wide-scale hostilities have caused mass displacement of the civilian population, with UNHCR reporting that, by 26 March 2022, over 3.8 million persons have fled the country, and an estimated 6.5 million are internally displaced. Due to the ongoing hostilities and large-scale displacement, many human rights defenders (HRDs) have been unable to perform their human rights work, which has had negative implications on the vulnerable groups they support. Furthermore, there are growing concerns about possible reprisals and retaliation against HRDs in areas occupied by Russian armed forces.