Attachments
Human Rights Council Fifty-eighth session
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
I. Executive Summary
1. This forty-first report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the human rights situation in Ukraine covers key developments between 1 September and 30 November 2024. It is based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).
2. In September, civilian casualties surged to the highest monthly toll since July 2022. The increase was primarily due to intensified military operations by Russian armed forces, especially in Donetsk region. The use of aerial glide bombs and short-range drones contributed to the high number of civilian casualties and harm to communities.
3. In the reporting period, Russian armed forces also conducted large-scale coordinated aerial attacks against Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure. The attacks disrupted electricity and dependent services such as water, heating, and transportation services in multiple regions. Ukrainian authorities enacted rolling power cuts nationwide, as the attacks further exacerbated the already significant electricity deficit in Ukraine due to previous attacks. The continued attacks deepened concerns about the impact of these attacks on civilians during the winter period.
4. Since the end of August 2024, OHCHR has recorded a significant increase in credible allegations of executions of Ukrainian servicepersons captured by Russian armed forces, involving at least 62 individuals in 19 incidents. In addition, OHCHR verified the killing by first-person-view drones of three Russian and one Ukrainian servicepersons who were hors de combat, severely wounded on the battlefield.
5. Ukrainian women and men held in Russian captivity as POWs and retained medical personnel suffered torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, by Russian authorities, consistent with previous findings by OHCHR on the systematic and widespread use of torture of Ukrainian POWs. The Russian Federation prosecuted at least 10 women POWs under domestic anti-terrorism legislation for their membership in specific military units, which appears inconsistent with their combatant immunity from prosecution for mere participation in hostilities or lawful acts of war. In addition, the legal proceedings against them involved multiple violations of the POWs’ right to a fair trial.
6. Russian POWs suffered torture or other forms of ill-treatment by Ukrainian authorities, mostly in transit locations at the initial stages of captivity, consistent with OHCHR’s previous findings. OHCHR documented the death in custody in a transit location of one Russian POW, and continues to follow-up on credible allegations of the deaths of two other men in the same location resulting from torture.
7. In violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL), the Russian Federation continued to implement Russian legislation in its entirety across territory of Ukraine which it occupies, resulting in further restrictions to fundamental rights and freedoms, property ownership, and cultural rights.1 Prosecutions against Jehovah’s Witnesses for practicing their faith, as well as against individuals expressing support for Ukraine or criticism of the Russian authorities, continued. The implementation of Russian legislation on ‘abandoned’ property violated IHL provisions prohibiting unlawful confiscation of property and affected both the right of displaced persons to return to their homes and the right to adequate housing.
8. The Russian Federation expanded its activities to teach children in occupied territory military skills for service to the Russian State through a new federal strategy on culture, changes to the educational curriculum, and the further incorporation of military training into school and recreational programmes. These measures may violate the obligations of the occupying Power under IHL, in particular by compelling allegiance to the Russian Federation, and enlisting children in formations subordinate to it. They also undermine children’s right to freely choose their own cultural identity.
9. In territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine, new legal provisions regarding religious organizations entered into force; these prohibit the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian religious organizations found to be affiliated with counterparts in the Russian Federation. The law introducing these provisions established disproportionate restrictions on the freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief.
10. The right to conscientious objection to military service has continued to be subjected to undue restrictions in law and practice.