A UN report [report, PDF] released on Thursday stated that failure by parties in eastern Ukraine to implement the Minsk Agreements has led to numerous human rights violations against Ukrainian civilians. This has mainly become a concern for those who live near the “contact line’ between the government and armed groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The report documented information based on 176 interviews with witnesses and victims. It details not only the dangers of those who live near this contact line from military engagement, but also the threat of mines and the restrictions on their freedom of movement. Over the three-month period of the report, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission recorded 32 civilian deaths and 132 injuries resulting from the conflict. Since April 2014 the conflict has resulted in roughly 2,000 civilian casualties and between 6,000 and 7,000 injuries. The report found [UN press release]:

It is of deep concern that Government forces and armed groups operating in civilian areas do not take all feasible precautions against the effects of fighting, resulting in damage to schools, kindergartens, and medical facilities. Ukrainian military forces and armed groups continue to be positioned in civilian homes and buildings in villages and towns adjacent to the contact line. Agricultural land used for military purposes and contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war has a detrimental impact on people’s access to livelihoods.

There is also a serious concern of displacement. The UN is asking that the government take greater care in shielding these citizens and investigate human rights violations committed in the course of the armed conflict, noting insufficient progress in holding perpetrators from its own ranks to account.

Russia and Ukraine have been in conflict since the annexation of Crimea [JURIST backgrounder] in March 2014. In July Amnesty International and Human Rights released the 56-page report detailing how Ukrainian government officials and Russia-backed separatists in the Ukraine have subjected citizens to [JURIST report] “prolonged, arbitrary detention,” torture, or other forms of inhumane treatment, including refusing necessary medical attention. In June the UN human rights office reported that the human rights situation in Ukraine remains troublesome [JURIST report] following two years of conflict with Russia. In February Russia filed suit [JURIST report] against Ukraine over Ukraine’s default on $3 billion in bonds. A Ukrainian official said in January that the nation plans to sue Russia [JURIST report] in the International Court of Justice on claims of financing terrorism. Last August a Russian military court sentenced [JURIST report] two Ukrainian activists to substantial jail time for the charge of conspiring to commit terror attacks. In March of last year the EU committed to stand by its policy of refusing to recognize Crimea’s annexation [JURIST report].