14/05/2022 13:49

Mariupol is threatened by a large-scale epidemic, which risks killing thousands of city residents

An infectious catastrophe in blocked Mariupol could be caused by a lack of water, damaged sewage systems and a large number of bodies under the rubble of houses.

The biggest problem in Mariupol is clean drinking water, which is not available in the city.  In addition, there is a critical situation with sewerage and gutters.  There is a danger that the sewage will be in the sea and on the streets of the city.

Given the number of bodies under the destroyed houses, with the natural consequences of decomposition in the warm period, the city is threatened by a large-scale epidemic in the near future.

Due to the closure of humanitarian corridors, many people waiting to be evacuated on the outskirts of the city began to return to live in Mariupol.

 According to local authorities, epidemics alone could kill about 10,000 people by the end of the year.

According to Article 56 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, the occupying Power is obliged to ensure and maintain conditions in the occupied territories satisfactory from the point of view of health and sanitation, and to take preventive and precautionary measures, necessary to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics.

I appeal to the UN Commission for Investigation Human Rights Violations during the Russian Military Invasion of Ukraine to take into account these facts of human rights violations in Ukraine.