UN: More than 1,000 cases of sexual violence recorded since the start of the war in Ukraine

More than 1,000 cases of sexual violence have been recorded since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced this Friday, attributing nine out of ten incidents to the Russian side.

“I am deeply concerned by the frequency of these heinous acts and I fear they will continue in the context of the uninterrupted violence we see every day in Ukraine,” High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement.

According to a new report, based on confidential interviews conducted with hundreds of victims of violence committed by both sides, as well as court documents and official data, “1,004 cases of sexual violence were recorded from February 24, 2022, the date of the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine,” through the end of July.

This number “represents only a fraction of the reality,” Danielle Bell, head of the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva. Researchers managed to speak with about 10 percent of the prisoners released from the two camps and were not allowed to enter Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory.

Of all recorded cases, 89% are attributed to the Russian side, mainly members of the Armed Forces, the prison administration and national security services, and 11% to Ukrainians.

These abuses “are part of a shocking pattern of torture, intimidation and coercion since the beginning” of the conflict, the UN warns.

Most of the victims of these abuses are men, mainly in detention centers, but women and children have also been targeted, mainly in occupied Ukrainian territories.

“The acts of violence committed include gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and blows to the genitals, as well as other degrading acts of a sexual nature,” the UN stressed.

The youngest recorded rape survivor was a four-year-old girl and the oldest, an 82-year-old woman. In both cases, the acts were committed by Russian authorities, he added.

Survivors reported being subjected to electric shocks to their genitals. Almost half of the abuses attributed to Ukrainian authorities against Russian prisoners of war or third-country nationals involve threats of sexual violence.

The rest include cases in which victims were forced to strip, suffered electric shocks and blows to the genitals, as well as two sexual assaults and two attempted rapes.

“Russia and Ukraine must investigate all credible allegations of sexual violence swiftly, thoroughly and impartially, and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice,” Turk stressed.