The United Nations has verified “more than a hundred cases” of rape or sexual assaults in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February, Patten said, referring to a UN report released in late September.
Pramila Patten, a UN special envoy on sexual violence, said she has verified more than 100 cases of rape against Ukrainians during the eight-month war but the true figure is almost certain to be higher.
The first cases were reported just “three days after the invasion of Ukraine” on February 24, she added, referring to a UN report released in late September.
Victims have ranged in age from four years old to 82 and have been mostly women and girls but included a number of men and young boys, she added.
According to reports, Russian troops are using rape as a weapon of war against Ukrainians, according to the damning evidence collected by the UN.
Patten said survivors have told her of genital mutilations and of soldiers “equipped with Viagra” in what appears to be a “military strategy” to dehumanise people.
“When women are held for days and raped, when you start to rape little boys and men, when you see a series of genital mutilations, when you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it’s clearly a military strategy,” she said.
“And when the victims report what was said during the rapes, it is clearly a deliberate tactic to dehumanise the victims.”
She added that “reported cases are only the tip of the iceberg”.
“It’s very difficult to have reliable statistics during an active conflict, and the numbers will never reflect reality, because sexual violence is a silent crime” that is largely underreported, she said.
Patten said her fight against sexual violence was “a battle against impunity”.
“That’s why I went to Ukraine (in May): to send a strong signal to the victims, to tell them that we stand with them and to ask them to break their silence,” she said.
But it was “also to send a strong signal to the rapists. The world is watching them, and raping a woman or girl, man or boy, will not be without consequences”.
Rape as a weapon of war has been reported in conflicts worldwide, from Bosnia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But the war in Ukraine has marked a turning point in international attitudes, the UN envoy said.
“There is now political will to fight impunity, and there is consensus today on the fact that rapes are used as a military tactic, a terror tactic,” Patten said.
“Is it because it is now happening in the heart of Europe? That might be it.”
She said she hoped, however, that the focus on Ukraine would not detract from other conflicts.
“I find this attention to… sexual violence linked to conflicts to be very positive,” she said, unlike in the past when the issue was viewed as “unavoidable”, mere “collateral damage” or even a “cultural issue”.
Patten said she was also concerned about the risk of human trafficking.
“The women, girls and children who have fled Ukraine are very, very vulnerable; for predators, what is happening in that country is not a tragedy but an opportunity,” she said.
“People trafficking is an invisible crime, but it’s a major crisis.”
More than seven million Ukrainians have fled the fighting into other European countries since the war started, the UN refugee agency says.
AFP
