U.N. investigators have documented nearly 3,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine

U.N. investigators¹ have documented nearly 3,000 civilian² deaths in Ukraine

Transcript³

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Matilda Bogner, the U.N. human rights monitoring mission chief in Ukraine, about her team's work documenting the conflict.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Atrocities⁴ committed by Russian forces in Ukraine have led to widespread accusations⁵ of war crimes. Some world leaders, including President Joe Biden and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have gone further and called it a genocide. The United Nations is investigating possible human rights violations⁶. Here with us now, Matilda Bogner. She is heading this team of investigators and joins us now. Thank you so much for making time.

MATILDA BOGNER: Thank you.

MARTIN: What have you and your team found on the ground at this point?

BOGNER: Unfortunately, the longer this conflict goes on, the more violations we are finding. In the beginning, the main violations were related to the indiscriminate use of weapons; in particular, those that are used in populated civilian areas with wide explosive impact. We have documented over 5,900 civilian casualties, which include more than 2,780 killed and over 3,000 injured. And many of those have been in cases where the evidence leads us to believe that weapons were being used indiscriminately. We've also seen the destruction and damage to a lot of civilian objects, including in particular medical facilities. So we have civilians⁷ who have been unlawfully killed, sometimes in summary executions. We're currently investigating over 300 cases in more than 34 settlements across the country. We're also looking at arbitrary detention⁹ and enforced disappearances¹⁰. We have documented more than 150 cases of those. So there's a range of different violations going on.

MARTIN: I imagine your team has also been looking into sexual violence as a weapon in this war. What have you found there?

BOGNER: We have also been looking at sexual violence. We have dozens of allegations. We have been able to confirm some of them. It is difficult to fully⁸ confirm sexual violence because it's often the type of case where victims don't want to speak publicly. And they're often not in safe areas where it feels safe for them to speak out or where they have received the services that they need. So it's difficult. But we are particularly concerned the areas around Kyiv where Russian forces were and then left. There are high numbers of allegations of sexual violence in those areas. But there are allegations in other parts of the country, too, and by both sides in the conflict, unfortunately.

MARTIN: Whether it's indiscriminant bombings, targeted civilian killings¹¹, rape¹², these are very, very grim things. And part of your work and your team's work is to hear people's testimony¹³. Is there a story, without revealing an identity, but can you share the story of someone that has captured for you the nature of the crimes taking place?

BOGNER: We've been speaking to people who have been able to evacuate¹⁴ from Mariupol, and we've been hearing a lot of awful stories from them. One story was from a medical doctor who remained to work in the hospital, and he said that more than 90% of the patients that he was so-called treating, it was by telephone because they could not reach him. It was too dangerous for them to get to him. People have been stuck in basements without food, without water.

MARTIN: The word genocide carries legal weight under international law, and responsibilities come with that term with deploying¹⁵ it. Is what you're seeing evidence of genocide?

BOGNER: So far, what we've been documenting are individual violations of international human rights law, as well as violations of international humanitarian¹⁶ law, which may constitute war crimes. So far, we have not looked into the question of genocide in Ukraine. We have enough to try to document these individual cases. I think it will be something for courts to look at at a later stage.

MARTIN: When it comes to documenting the war crimes, though, how would they be prosecuted¹⁸, under exactly what law and through what institution?

BOGNER: Well, there are different levels that which people can be prosecuted. Certainly, the government of Ukraine has already opened cases. Other countries can also look at that. Some of these crimes have universal jurisdiction¹⁹, so different countries could also prosecute¹⁷. But then there are regional courts. There's the European Court of Human Rights, and then there are international courts, such as the International Criminal Court.

MARTIN: Does it make a difference, though, that Russia is not party to the International Criminal Court, the ICC?

BOGNER: Well, it is a pity neither Russia nor Ukraine are parties to the ICC. However, Ukraine has given permission for the ICC to look into conflict-related issues within its territory. That happened before the 24 of February, when this international armed conflict started. But it can apply to this also. So the ICC is looking into what is happening in Ukraine at the moment. But at this stage, what is important is to ensure that the crimes are being documented so when opportunities arise in the future, then they can be prosecuted.

MARTIN: Matilda Bogner - she's heading a team of U.N. investigators looking into possible war crimes in Ukraine. She joined us on Skype. Thank you so much for making time.

BOGNER: Thanks very much.

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

10 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

11 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

12 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

13 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

14 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

15 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

16 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

17 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

18 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

19 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。