A/HRC/43/CRP.5 24. For example, on 29 August 2019, a woman was injured by SALW fire in Government-controlled Novoluhanske (Donetsk region) while taking cover in her home’s summer kitchen. On 11 September 2019, three male staff of the ‘ministry for emergency situations’ of ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ received fragmentation injuries while putting out a house fire caused by shelling in western Donetsk. One of the men had his arm amputated. On 23 September 2019, a woman was injured during the shelling of armed group-controlled Pikuzy (formerly Kominterove, Donetsk region). She was in her backyard when she heard an explosion and felt pain in her right leg. 25. OHCHR remains concerned that ongoing hostilities continue to affect educational establishments located in close proximity to military positions and/or the contact line. During the reporting period, at least, four functioning schools and two functioning kindergartens (all in territory controlled by armed groups) were damaged by SALW fire. Although the incidents causing damage occurred at times when no children or personnel were present, and the damage was moderate (mostly damaged windows), OHCHR recalls that schools and kindergartens, as civilian objects, are protected under international humanitarian law, unless they are military objectives, and shall not be the object of attack. 26. Mine-related incidents11 and the handling of explosive remnants of war (ERW)12 resulted in 20 civilian casualties: three men and three women were killed, and five men, three woman, four boys and two girls were injured. Four civilians were killed in Government-controlled territory, one was killed and nine were injured in territory controlled by ‘Luhansk people’s republic’, and one was killed and five were injured in territory controlled by ‘Donetsk people’s republic’. In addition, a man was injured in a road incident with the military in the Government-controlled territory. 27. For example, on 28 September 2019, three boys and two girls were injured while walking in the woods near armed group-controlled Chornohorivka (formerly Krasna Zoria, Luhansk region), when one of them inadvertently triggered a hand grenade. On 5 October 2019, a man and a woman were killed as a result of the detonation of a hand grenade in their apartment in Government-controlled Marinka (Donetsk region). On 12 October, a woman and her adult son, along with a female friend, were injured when they inadvertently triggered an unidentified explosive while tending to a grave in armed group-controlled Donetsk. 2. Civilian casualties in 2019 28. From 1 January to 15 November 2019, OHCHR recorded 162 conflict-related civilian casualties: 26 killed (15 men, ten women and a boy) and 136 injured (77 men, 39 women, 11 boys and nine girls). This is a 39.3 per cent decrease compared with the same period in 2018 (23 killed and 214 injured), and the lowest civilian casualties recorded for this calendar period during the entire conflict. 29. From 1 January to 15 November 2019, OHCHR recorded 101 civilian casualties caused by shelling and SALW fire (seven killed and 94 injured), a 32.7 per cent decrease compared with the same period in 2018 (21 killed and 129 11 12 10 Incidents in which civilians were killed or injured by mines (antipersonnel or anti-vehicle) or explosive devices triggered in the same way, such as booby traps, or by ERW that were inadvertently detonated. Incidents in which civilians either manipulated an ERW for a certain period of time and took additional efforts to detonate it (for instance, by trying to dismantle it) or were near someone doing so.

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