A new attempt to evacuate civilians in Mariupol, in the south-east of Ukraine, on Saturday April 23, was disrupted by Russian forces who bombarded the city. For weeks, the port city has been constantly targeted by Vladimir Putin’s army.“We are very suspicious and skeptical about these promises of a convoy, of a humanitarian corridor, which in reality have never really been put in place”laments on franceinfo Jean-Claude Samouiller, vice-president of Amnesty International France.
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franceinfo: Do you still believe in these evacuations?
Jean-Claude Samouiller: There would have to be ceasefires, defined routes, time of departure, time of arrival. The population should be informed because today in Mariupol, since March 3, civilians have been living in cellars or basements, without electricity, water or heating.
There is no longer a telephone network or the internet. So how do you inform the population of the establishment of these humanitarian corridors?
Jean-Claude Samouillerat franceinfo
And lastly, how can the most vulnerable people, that is to say the elderly or disabled, join these humanitarian convoys? All these elements lead us to believe that this promise will not be kept. We have testimonies of forced displacements of populations towards Russia, we have not yet authenticated them, but if that were the case, we would once again be faced with a war crime since the forced displacement of populations is strictly prohibited. by international humanitarian law.
In Mariupol, as you said, the inhabitants live in deplorable sanitary conditions. What information do your teams report?
There are already people who are dead, and there are people who are going to die. It is a siege war, medieval, which mainly targets civilians. But there are rules, even in case of conflict there are laws: this is called the law of war. In no way can the civilian populations be taken hostage, in no way can they be bombarded or starved.
People survive in caves with no water, no food, no medicine for the sick, disabled or elderly. They no longer have access to healthcare, there is very little food left.
Jean-Claude Samouillerat franceinfo
They live in appalling conditions and there is still talk of 100,000 civilians present in Mariupol. Our teams, those of other NGOs and journalists are in the process of collecting all this information and authenticating it, but in all likelihood we are dealing with war crimes, a massive violation of international humanitarian law, where civilian populations are in suffering, are deliberately bombarded, starved, surrounded. This is a massive violation of the laws of war.
How do you see the sequence of events for these civilians? To what extent can NGOs intervene on the spot, and under what conditions?
When we talk about a humanitarian corridor, it goes both ways. In one direction, to evacuate the maximum number of civilians from the combat zones, and in the other direction, to allow the intervention of NGOs which could bring medicine, water, food and care to the people who remain on square. So in both directions, the situation is blocked: the bombardments continue, the NGOs cannot enter the conflict zones. That is the first part, but there is a second part of work for several NGOs like Amnesty. It is to collect evidence to authenticate it and hand it over, one day, to international justice, so that the perpetrators of these abuses and these crimes can be judged. And not only the perpetrators themselves, but the entire chain of command since bombing civilians, raping civilians, killing civilians, these are war crimes for which the responsibility lies with the perpetrators themselves, but also with the entire chain of command .