New Delhi: Russian soldiers in Ukraine have been allegedly raping men and boys, United Nations and Ukrainian officials said.
UN special representative to end rape in war, Pramila Patten, said in Kyiv: “I have received reports, not yet verified… about sexual violence cases against men and boys in Ukraine.”
She said it would be very challenging for male rape survivors to report the crime.
“It’s hard for women and girls to report (rape) because of stigma amongst other reasons, but it’s often even harder for men and boys to report… we have to create that safe space for all victims to report cases of sexual violence,” she said.
“I am working with the different UN agencies to ensure that there are services adapted to the needs of men and boys, because everywhere in many conflict situations, I have observed that there is a lack of services adapted to the needs of men and boys,” she added.
Patten urged survivors to come forward, warning that dozens of cases reported so far and under investigation was just the “tip of the iceberg”. “My promise to you is that international law will not be an empty promise. Today’s documentation will be tomorrow’s prosecution. And I want you to know that your rights don’t end when wars begin,” she said.
She added: “Women’s rights don’t end when wars begin. Your bodies are not (a) battlefield and must never be treated as part of the battlefield.”
Standing alongside her at a press conference in Kyiv was Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.
Stefanishyna described sexual violence in war as “one of the most silent types of crime”. She said it was, therefore, difficult to gather information on exact numbers.
“Today we have started working to gather this information using volunteers, working with medical facilities, and documenting these cases outside the criminal proceedings,” she said.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said Moscow has used rape as a deliberate strategy. “This is, of course, to scare civil society… to do everything to (force Ukraine to) capitulate,” she said.
More than five million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, reportedly the fastest-growing refugee crisis since the Second World War.
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