Over 1,000 cases of sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine have been documented from the start of Russia’s invasion to the end of July this year.
That’s according to a new UN human rights office (OHCHR) report which details violations including gang rape, rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals – together with other degrading acts of a sexual nature.
Violations were recorded on both sides of the frontline, but the pattern is very different “in scope and scale,” stressed Danielle Bell, the head of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, briefing journalists on Friday.
Russian authorities – including members of the armed forces, prison service and national security service – were responsible for 89 per cent of the documented cases.
Sexual violence was particularly widespread among detainees held by Russian authorities, with almost three-quarters of former prisoners of war and nearly half of all civilians detained experiencing sexual violence on more than one occasion, Ms. Bell reported.
The remaining 11 per cent of documented cases were attributed to Ukrainian authorities, and almost half of these exclusively comprised threats.
Ms. Bell also stressed that Ukraine provides the UN mission with “unfettered access” to the prisoner-of-war camps and to other detention facilities.
by UN News – Sexual violence against civilians and POW’s in Ukraine widespread and ‘abhorrent’
