165. Women have been particularly affected in this situation. They make up about 80% of those employed by the government (teachers, doctors, public servants) and were therefore hard hit by the lack of government payments of salaries and social security benefits like child support. Economically women already face a wage gender gap and discrimination in the workplace. With a scarcity of money and food coupled with their responsibility for their households and families, women in the east were further burdened by the constant fear for their lives and security. 166. Negative impacts are also apparent on the right to health. Access to healthcare remains limited in the east, as many hospitals of the region are not operational or are working below their normal capacity, according to the Ministry of Health. The availability of heath care staff has decreased, as doctors, especially specialists and surgeons have left. The lack of fuel means the Emergency Medical Service is not operating properly, especially in Slovyansk and Kramatorsk where medical help is mainly delivered by volunteer squads from Kharkiv. Delivery of medicines, including insulin and ARV therapy, has been often disrupted. 167. Due to threats and intimidation, many factories and businesses have had to shut down. For example, in the Luhansk region, four coal mines owned by the DTEK Mining Company were shut down on 10 July because of the risk to miner's lives. This followed an incident in which four miners were killed and 16 wounded, including women, when a bus they were travelling in came under fire. The company also closed its 2 coal enrichment factories. These closures affect 4,500 employees. Armed groups have also seized warehouses and factories, using the premises for such things as training camps or military repair shops. Companies that produce materials that can be used to make weapons have also been seized by the armed groups. 168. In addition, big industrial enterprises and mines are functioning under great risk of sudden power cuts, which can occur anytime as a result of damage caused by shelling. Especially in mines, such an emergency would result in miners being trapped under ground, threatening their lives and their right to safe and healthy work conditions. Numerous factories and other large enterprises use chemicals in their production and have large storage areas of containment. In situations of shelling, these could be damaged causing leakage of dangerous chemical substances, with a negative impact on the right to health and environmental safety for the residents. 169. Eastern Ukraine is the centre for the country’s heavy industry. With the economic life of Donetsk and Luhansk now crippled, the impact on the rest of the country will be severe. 170. The rights to an adequate standard of living and the quality of life for residents in the east has been severely impacted and the damage to their towns and villages extensive. In some places this has reached critical levels. For example, as of 15 July, because of damage to the water systems, there was no water in Semenivka, Mykolaivka or Petrivka and residents of Slovyansk were relying on well water which was turgid and with sediment and reaching its limit. In Mykolaivka deliveries of water were being made daily but older persons and people with disabilities had no way to get into town to get the water. There were no water deliveries to Semenivka. In Luhansk, 28 villages were without electricity on 2 July; the power was also cut to 34 cities and villages in the Donetsk region on 4 July because of the fighting and repair work was in progress; according to the electricity company on 2 July, power to healthcare facilities in Kramatorsk was disrupted; 200 people were reported without gas when a gas pipe was damaged by shelling in the village of Vlasivka (Luhansk) on 3 July. Fuel was reportedly in short supply with only one petrol station remaining open to serve Kramatorsk and 164 | P a g e