The United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday said there are at least 24 cases in which it appears Russian forces have used clusters bombs in Ukraine and that the indiscriminate attacks on civilians by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army “may amount to war crimes.”
Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday that her office is investigating two dozen credible reports of cluster munitions being used on the battlefield by Russia.
“For more than one month now, the entire population of Ukraine has been enduring a living nightmare,” Bachelet said. “The lives of millions of people are in upheaval as they are forced to flee their homes or hide in basements and bomb shelters as their cities are pummeled and destroyed.”
“Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes,” Bachelet said.
UN: ‘CREDIBLE’ REPORTS OF RUSSIA DEPLOYING CLUSTER BOMBS IN UKRAINE
Cluster munitions are bombs that release and scatter smaller bombs over a wider area and can result in indiscriminate death and destruction to nonmilitary targets.
Reports of Russia’s use of cluster munitions have circulated since the country invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Bachelet’s office is also investigating the alleged use of cluster munitions by the Ukrainian side, and she expressed concern at videos posted on social media showing interrogations of captured soldiers by both Ukrainian and Russian forces.
The U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday announced the names of three investigators tasked with looking into “all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law and related crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation.”
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They are Erik Mose of Norway, Jasminka Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Pablo de Greiff of Colombia.
An oral report of their finding will be presented to the human rights commission in September 2022, and a full written report is due in March 2023.
