Human Rights Watch said Thursday that both sides in the conflict in Ukraine have indiscriminately attacked schools, which could amount to a war crime.
In a report entitled “studying Under Fire,” the rights group documented how both the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed rebels have carried out attacks on schools and used them for military purposes, including basing troops or weapons in or near schools.
Yulia Gorbunova, the HRW researcher who authored the report, said this happened on a wide scale in eastern Ukraine.
According to data in the report provided by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education, 119 schools and kindergartens in its areas were damaged in fighting between April 2014 and November 2015. De facto rebel authorities reported damage to nearly 900 schools in their areas during the same period.
HRW’s Gorbunova said both the government and rebels are open to discussions about the right’s group’s findings.
HRW urged both sides to take concrete actions to deter the military use of schools.