2023-06-18 04:26:41
Each year there are an average of 900 confirmed cases of sexual violence against children in conflict around the world. Over 14,000 cases were documented by the United Nations from 2005 to 2020. “However, the number of unreported cases is significantly higher because many sexual assaults go unreported,” says Boris Breyer, spokesman for SOS Children’s Villages worldwide.
What does sexual violence mean?
Sexual violence in conflict zones is officially a war crime and includes rape, forced prostitution, marriage, pregnancy, sterilization, abortion and slavery. A large proportion of the victims are girls and women (up to 97 percent according to the UN report), but boys and men are also affected. Six percent of all women worldwide have suffered sexual violence from someone they do not know.
Every third child at risk
According to UN reports in 2019, almost one in three children worldwide is in a conflict-affected country where sexual violence is used as a weapon. In about 70 percent of the conflict zones in which sexual violence was perpetrated against civilians, children were also among the victims.
Countries with the most cases
In the past seven years, sexual violence has been used as a weapon mainly in conflicts in the following countries: Somalia, Somaliland, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan, Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, Colombia, Yemen, Mali. Ukraine has also been on this list since 2022: According to UN reports, Russian soldiers are said to have raped Ukrainian civilians. Main goal: expulsion and demonstration of power.
There are said to be thousands of victims, hundreds have filed complaints and around 150 (as of March 2023) have testified in court since the beginning of the war. Many do not report them out of fear or shame. “Many also just want to leave what happened behind them and not keep it continuously present in processes lasting months or years. A lack of money is also a reason why many cannot afford a lawyer,” explains Breyer.
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