International Day Against Sexual Violence in Conflict

19.06.2023 16:00

In the war of Russia against Ukraine, the facts of the use of sexual violence occurred since 2014. They became especially large-scale in 2022, when the occupiers were able to commit crimes against civilian citizens of Ukraine with impunity.

The date of the International Day Against Sexual Violence in Conflict was chosen in honor of the adoption on June 19, 2008 of Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008), in which the Council condemned sexual violence as a tactic of warfare and an obstacle to the construction of peace.

“Sexual violence in conflict” means rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced marriage and any other form comparable in severity to sexual violence against women, men, girls or boys who are directly or indirectly related to the conflict.

“It is now widely recognized that sexual violence is a targeted strategy used to damage the social fabric of society, to control and intimidate the population, and to drive people out of their homes...,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

On June 19, 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/69/293, establishing the International Day Against Sexual Violence in Conflict to raise awareness of the need to end conflict-related sexual violence, honor victims of sexual violence of people and those who have experienced it all over the world. To pay tribute to all those who bravely dedicate their lives to the fight to eradicate these crimes or have lost their lives in this struggle.

This is not the first time that Moscow-led forces have used sexual violence on a massive scale, with blatant brutality and a sense of impunity, as a tactic for fighting. The most striking example from the past is the final stage of the German-Soviet war of 1941—1945, when Soviet troops entered Germany.

According to the British historian and author of the study “The Fall of Berlin. 1945” Anthony Bivory, in Berlin alone, about 130,000 women and girls were raped, many of them repeatedly. Also according to the historian, about 10 thousand victims of rape died as a result of their injuries.

In the war of Russia against Ukraine, the facts of the use of sexual violence occurred since 2014.

But after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the aggressor's troops use sexual violence precisely as a method of waging war on unprecedented scales — in particular, to intimidate, “take revenge” or “punish” civilians in the occupied territories. Sexual violence is applied to women, men and children.

Among the most egregious crimes recorded are the rape of infants, the gang rape of twin boys of two years of age, as a result of which the children died, the rape of children in front of their parents, and vice versa.

Recorded pregnancies of minors who were raped by the Russian military.

Recorded facts when Russian occupiers explicitly stated that they were raping women in order to cause them psychological trauma that would cause reluctance to live sex in the future and bear children

There are acts of rape of men, as well as people of retirement age.

Recorded facts when the Russian military inclined to coerce women into sex, threatening to kill them or their loved ones.

The police are successfully investigating such proceedings. In order to document them qualitatively and effectively, pre-trial investigation in all criminal proceedings of this category is carried out by investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, who have all the professional knowledge and relevant experience in investigating this particular category of crimes.

To date, the National Police is investigating 53 cases of sexual violence by the occupiers. It is terrible that among the crimes we have identified, 10 were committed against children. Investigators have already identified 18 Russian military sexual abusers, who were reported “in absentia” on suspicion of violation of laws under the customs of war, in particular international conventions and treaties under article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
This means that they are established, their names are known, and justice will surely come to them (if the Armed Forces does not come to them earlier - one of the two, but they will certainly be punished).

We work to find and bring to justice every war criminal.

More about occupier crimes and helping victims of sexual violence during war: