United Nations Warns Of Steep Rise In Sexual Violence During Conflict

A woman poses for a portrait in an undisclosed location in Shiraro on October 12, 2024. She told AFP that after one year into the conflict she was trying to buy some food for her family when two Eritrean soldiers stopped and raped her. The two-year war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region left hundreds of thousands of people dead, more than one million still displaced and caused more than $20 billion in damage, until the agreement in November 2022 ended the bloodshed. Among the many barbaric acts inflicted on civilians during the two-year conflict in Ethiopia’s northernmost region of Tigray, rape and sexual violence were “systematic” and used as a weapon of war, according to a study published in 2023 by the scientific journal BMC Women’s Health. Estimates of the number of rapes committed vary widely — up to as many as 120,000 — according to data compiled by the researchers, with many reluctant to report the attacks. The victims reported that most of the perpetrators were Ethiopian or Eritrean soldiers, but also militiamen from the neighbouring Amhara region. (Photo credit: MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images)

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In August 2025, the United Nations published the annual Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, warning about a steep rise in sexual violence during conflict. As the report indicates, both State and non-State actors were responsible for violations in over 20 countries, with the highest numbers recorded in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Somalia and South Sudan. The report, presenting the data from 2024, indicated that women and girls made up the majority of victims, but men, boys, people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities were also targeted, ranging in age from one to 75. Many such attacks were accompanied by extreme physical violence, including summary executions.

The report emphasized the use of sexual violence in detention, “including as a form of torture, reportedly in Israel and the State of Palestine, Libya, Myanmar, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen. Most of the reported incidents against men and boys occurred in detention, consistent with previous years, and included rape, threats of rape and the electrocution and beating of genitals.” However, the report also stressed that patterns of conflict-related sexual violence in detention also affected women and girls. Furthermore, in several settings, humanitarian access to detention sites was severely constrained or blocked, which further affected monitoring and reporting on instances of sexual violence, but also denied the victims of life-saving assistance.

The report raised the use of sexual violence in the context of abduction and trafficking in persons. Among others, “In the Sudan, women and girls abducted in Darfur and greater Khartoum by elements of the Rapid Support Forces were in some cases transported to remote locations, where they were raped while being forcibly held, for several days or months. In Nigeria, the abduction of women and girls by non-State armed groups was used to incentivize and recruit fighters.”

The report lists tens of State and non-State actors credibly suspected of or being responsible for patterns of sexual violence in armed conflicts. For the first time, the report also names parties “on notice” for potential listing in the next annual report, including Russia and Israel, “owing to significant concerns regarding patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented by the United Nations.” In relation to Russia, the Secretary-General pointed to credible information of violations by Russian armed and security forces and affiliated armed groups in 50 official and 22 unofficial detention facilities in Ukraine and the Russian Federation. These violations, perpetrated primarily against Ukrainian prisoners of war, include genital violence such as electrocution, beatings and burns to the genitals, and forced stripping and prolonged nudity, used to humiliate and elicit confessions or information. In relation to Israel, the Secretary-General raised the existence of “credible information of violations by Israeli armed and security forces, perpetrated against Palestinians in several prisons, a detention centre and a military base. Cases documented by the United Nations indicate patterns of sexual violence such as genital violence, prolonged forced nudity and repeated strip searches conducted in an abusive and degrading manner.”

The report further stressed the need for justice and accountability. However, as it notes, impunity for conflict-related sexual violence remained the norm in 2024, with continuing conflict and a lack of political will curtailing accountability processes at the national level. As it stressed, “Often, the formal justice system is inaccessible for survivors owing to a lack of legal aid and the need to travel long distances in order to reach competent authorities, the security risks and costs associated with travel and the judicial process proving prohibitive. Victims often abstained from lodging a complaint due to fear of reprisals and stigma.” While some regions have seen progress on justice and accountability, such efforts continue to be a tip of the iceberg.

The report makes several recommendations to address the ever-growing number of cases of conflict-related sexual violence. However, with the proliferation and escalation of conflicts globally, record levels of displacement and militarization, and very little political will to address these issues, the recommendations are likely to remain unimplemented.