The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) is studying the alleged Ukrainian strike on a medical facility in the Luhansk People's Repiblic's (LPR) Novoaidar, but targeting any medical facilities violates international law, OHCHR spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told Sputnik on Tuesday
GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st January, 2023) The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) is studying the alleged Ukrainian strike on a medical facility in the Luhansk People's Repiblic's (LPR) Novoaidar, but targeting any medical facilities violates international law, OHCHR spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told Sputnik on Tuesday.
On January 28, Ukrainian troops hit a hospital in Novoaidar from US-made multiple rocket launcher system HIMARS, killing 14 people and injuring 24 others, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Later that day, the Ukrainian military fired 17 missiles at Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region and more than five of them exploded on the territory of a local hospital, the local authorities reported.
"Our Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) is aware of two recent attacks on medical facilities in Ukraine. On Saturday 28 January, a medical facility at Novoaidar, in an area occupied by the Russian Federation, was struck by rockets reportedly fired by the Ukrainian armed forces," Throssell said.
Verification procedures of such incidents take time due to the lack of access to the areas, the spokeswoman explained.
"It does take colleagues time to verify information about alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia, in particular due to a lack of access to these areas," Throssell said.
The official added that any attack on a medical facility is a violation of international law.
"As a general point, we recall that attacks that deliberately target medical facilities, whether civilian or military - provided they have not lost their protection due to being used outside their humanitarian function to commit acts harmful to the enemy - amount to a violation of international humanitarian law," Throssell said.
