NCSEJ WEEKLY NEWS BRIEF Washington, D.C. August 8, 2016 UN warns of escalating tension in eastern Ukraine as casualties hit highest since last August UN, August 3, 2016 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54615#.V6OZyOTzM6E Civilian causalities in eastern Ukraine spiked in June and July, prompting the United Nations human rights chief to call on the parties to the conflict to make protection of civilians a priority and take urgent steps to de- escalate the increasingly tense situation at the contact line. “The escalation of hostilities and the accompanying civilian casualties in eastern Ukraine over the last two months are very worrying,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said today in a news release. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented 69 civilian casualties in June, including 12 dead and 57 injured, and 73 civilian casualties in July, including eight dead and 65 injured, the highest figures since August 2015. The average of 71 for these two months was more than double the monthly average of 34 from September 2015 through May 2016. “The many casualties we have documented in recent weeks suggest that neither Ukrainian forces nor the armed groups are taking the necessary precautions to protect civilians,” Mr. Zeid said, urging all sides to respect the ceasefire provisions, to remove combatants and weapons from civilian areas, and to scrupulously implement the provisions of the Minsk agreements. More than half of all the casualties recorded in the past two months were caused by shelling. Between 1 June and 31 July 2016, 72 civilians were injured and six killed by shelling, including allegedly through the use of weapons expressly prohibited by the Minsk agreements. Mines, explosive remnants of war, booby traps and improvised explosive devices were responsible for most of the remaining casualties. UN human rights teams on both sides of the contact line have documented reports of civilian homes looted, schools and hospitals shelled or used by Ukrainian forces and armed groups. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 people cross the contact line each day, using five crossings that are surrounded by inadequately marked minefields, according to OHCHR. In recent weeks, the situation has become even more dangerous as exchanges of fire have reportedly taken place between Ukrainian forces and armed groups, particularly around the footbridge at Stanytsia Luhanska, the only crossing point in Luhansk region. Mr. Zeid urged the parties to heed the calls of the international community to disengage from the contact line and adhere to a full and sustainable ceasefire. The High Commissioner recalled that Ukraine has committed to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but has yet to do so. “The ratification of the Statute, with its focus on individual criminal responsibility, will serve as incentive for all parties to the conflict to respect the law and ensure the protection of civilians,” he said. In total, from mid-April 2014 to 31 July 2016, the UN human rights office has documented 31,690 casualties, including 9,553 killed and 22,137 injured in the conflict area in eastern Ukraine, including Ukrainian forces, civilians and members of the armed groups. Ukraine Rebels Warn of Return to Full Fighting 'Very Soon' By Damien Sharkov Newsweek, August 4, 2016 http://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-rebels-warn-return-full-fighting-very-soon-487129 Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine’s east have threatened a return to full-scale conflict “very soon” if Kiev does not recall forces away from the contact line, newspaper Izvestia has reported. Over the last two months violence in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, known collectively as Donbas, has risen to the highest levels in a year. Donetsk rebel representative Denis Pushilin said that “the situation worsens every day;” government forces have reported Moscow-backed rebel violations frequently average between 50-70 a day. A February 2015 ceasefire agreement demanded both sides recall heavy weapons from the contact line, grant amnesty to prisoners of war and implement a series of other measures. But neither side has fully complied and both accuse the other of violating the ceasefire and provoking them. “The situation worsens with each day,” Pushilin told the Russian newspaper. “There has been no progress to regulate the conflict politically since the last negotiations. The situation remains tense and at any moment it can heat up and escalate into fully-fledged fighting.” “If Ukraine does not meet at least the first three points (of the ceasefire) in Donbas, open fighting will be renewed very soon,” Pushilin said. The points he was referring to include the stipulation that both sides must divert heavy artillery and tanks from the contact line. According to the latest report from international observer Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), both sides have either anti-tank guns, artillery and/or howitzers in an advanced position beyond the agreed withdrawal lines. Obama Says Alleged Russian Hack Wouldn't Change Relations RFE/RL, August 3, 2016 http://www.rferl.org/content/obama-says-alleged-russian-hack-wouldnt-change-us-russia- relations/27897152.html U.S. President Barack Obama said the alleged Russian hack of Democratic Party computers, if confirmed, would not dramatically change already troubled relations between the two countries. Obama’s comments on August 2 came as the FBI continued to probe the hack, which occurred in June. Thousands of internal e-mails from the Democratic Party Committee were later leaked, embarrassing the party at the start of its convention to nominate Hillary Clinton as its presidential candidate. Clinton has blamed Russia for the hack. The Kremlin has denied involvement. Speaking at the White House, Obama said "the United States already has a lot of differences with Russia on a whole bunch of issues, but I think that we've been able to try to stay focused on those areas where we still have a common interest." "If, in fact, Russia engaged in this activity, it's just one on a long list of issues that me and Mr. Putin talk about and that I've got a real problem with," he added. Meanwhile, three more top Democratic Party officials resigned on August 2 amid a shake-up following the release of the e-mails, some of which indicated Democratic Party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other officials favored Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders during the primary campaign. Lithuanian mayor urged to stop parties at former concentration camp JTA, August 3, 2016 http://www.jta.org/2016/08/03/news-opinion/world/lithuanian-mayor-urged-to-stop-parties-at-former- concentration-camp A prominent Nazi-hunter from Israel, and the Jewish Community of Lithuania called on the city of Kaunas to stop the use for recreational purposes of what used to be a concentration camp for Jews during the Holocaust. Efraim Zuroff, the Israel director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, on Tuesday wrote a letter about the area known as the Seventh Fort to Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijosaitis following the publication last month of a JTA expose about various activities held on the grounds, including treasure hunts, summer camps, costume parties for adults, camping excursions and BBQ parties. “As you no doubt are aware, the site of the mass murder of several thousand Jews in 1941 was privatized several years ago, and has now been turned into a recreation and entertainment center which violates the memory of the victims,” wrote Zuroff, who conducted his own investigation of the site together with the Lithuanian novelist Ruta Vanagaite for a book they co-authored and published in January titled “Musiskiai,” Lithuanian for “our own.” “I urge you to immediately suspend such activities at the Seventh Fort and find a way to restore the site to the municipality or to an organization whose purpose will be to honor the memory of the victims, rather than insult them,” added Zuroff, who provided a copy of the letter to JTA. The city privatized the Seventh Fort in 2009, handing over the land to a nonprofit called Military Heritage Center, which is headed by a 37-year-old amateur historian and informatics expert, Vladimir Orlov. Orlov told JTA that while many Jews are buried at the Seventh Fort, the mass graves account for two percent of the area. He said that recreational activities do not take place near or on the graves, which are largely unmarked except for a few poles, where relatives of the victims sometimes light candles in their memory. The JTA article prompted critical articles in mainstream Lithuanian media and abroad, including by Britain’sDaily Mail. According to “Musiskiai,” sometime after 2009 Orlov exhumed bones of Jews killed at the Seventh Fort, which were reburied in 2014. The Jewish Community of Lithuania in a July 26 statement said it made sure the reburial complied with Jewish religious laws, but added that Orlov’s NGO has not complied with their repeated appeals for plaques commemorating the dead. Orlov said proceeds from events and tours that his staff of 11 give at the Seventh Fort go to maintenance work. But the Jewish Community of Lithuania clearly is not convinced. “The Lithuanian Jewish Community believes Lithuanian institutions must make sure the memory of the victims of the Holocaust doesn’t become subject to private business schemes,” read the community’s statement. “Unfortunately, the Seventh Fort, the first concentration camp in Lithuania, has become an notorious example of this sort of exploitation, despite constant calls by the Lithuanian Jewish Community.” Poles observe 72nd anniversary of Warsaw Uprising AP, August 1, 2016 https://www.yahoo.com/news/poles-observe-72nd-anniversary-warsaw-uprising- 095116699.html?nhp=1 People across Warsaw observed a minute of silence as a siren wailed on Monday, marking the 72nd anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Uprising, a struggle against Nazi Germany in 1944 that lasted 63 days and ended tragically for the Poles.