UN: war-related sexual violence will increase in 2023
War-related sexual violence increased in 2023. This is denounced by a United Nations report, which describes in particular the “sexual violence” committed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and the “convincing information” on the rape of hostages brought to Gaza by Hamas. In the past year, “as new conflicts emerged and existing ones escalated, civilian populations were exposed to greater levels of sexual violence, intensified by the proliferation of weapons and increasing militarization,” the report reads. . Violence committed by state and non-state armed groups, which in most cases act “with total impunity”. Rape, sexual slavery, prostitution, forced pregnancies, forced marriages continue to “be used as a tactic of war, torture and terrorism”, stigmatizes Antonio Guterres, UN secretary general, taking stock in particular of the situation in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic , Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma, Sudan, Mali and even Haiti. The victims are mostly women and girls, but “men, boys and people of different gender identities have also been affected”, with the majority of cases reported in places of detention
