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STORY: UN / SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT
TRT: 04:52
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior UN Headquarters
29 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“In 2025, documented cases of sexual violence as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism and political repression marked by extreme brutality and overwhelmingly targeting women and girls, increased dramatically, while multiple and overlapping political, security and humanitarian crisis worsened. Civilians were targeted with rape, gang rape, abductions, and sexual slavery by state and non-state actors. Expenditures linked to rising militarisation, straining national budgets, coupled with acute funding cuts for United Nations entities, had a devastating impact with services for survivors being slashed when women and girls caught up in conflict need them most.”
4. Wide shot, press room dais
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“New listings include three non-state actors and two state actors. The three non-state actors operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were listed, and they are Wazalendo armed elements; Forces Nationales de Libération; and Mai Mai du groupe armé de l’Union des Patriotes pour la Libération du Congo. Two new state actors are listed. Firstly, the Israel Armed and Security Forces; namely the Israel Defence Forces, Israel Prison Service, including the Keter Special Forces, and the Police Counter-terrorism Unit, Yamam, are listed on the basis of credible information indicating continued patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence, with an increase in the number of verified cases this year.”
6. Wide shot, press room dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“In 2025, the UN was able to verify 31 cases, primarily in detention settings, but also at checkpoints and during military operations against 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This is part of a pattern of sexual violence against Palestinians, including as a form of torture.”
8. Wide shot, press room dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“Violations consisted of rape, including with objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence to the genitals, instances of targeted shooting of the genitals, touching of breast and genitals, strip and cavity searches conducted without apparent security justification, forced nudity, and threats of rape. Rape, and gang rape were perpetrated against nine of these victims, with four suffering repeated rape on multiple occasions.”
10. Wide shot, press room dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“Turning to the Russian Federation, the other party that was put on notice in last year's report is the Russian Armed and Security Forces, which have also been listed by the Secretary-General this year based on UN verified information indicating continued patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated primarily against Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees. Consistent denial of access for UN monitors to temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and to the Russian Federation resulted in cases being verified only after their release. As set out in paragraph 72 of the report. In 2025, the UN was able to verify 310 cases of conflict related sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals, affecting 280 men, 26 women and four girls perpetrated by the Russian Armed and Security forces, including the Federal Penitentiary Service, the Russian Armed Forces and the Federal Security Service.”
12. Med shot, journalist
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“My mandate is a Security Council mandate, and this is how countries fall within the purview of the mandate. It's based on whether it is -and this is spelt out in Security Council Resolution 1960. And even the Secretary-General can only list parties, credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of sexual violence for countries that are on the agenda of the Security Council.”
14. Wide shot, end of presser
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, today (29 May) presented the Secretary-General’s report on conflict-related sexual violence, and said cases of conflict-related sexual violence verified by the United Nations in 2025 rose sharply from 2024, “marked by extreme brutality, and overwhelmingly targeted women and girls.”
The report says that in 2025, documented cases of sexual violence as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism, and political repression surged, while “multiple and overlapping political, security and humanitarian crises worsened.”
A total of 77 parties, including state and non-state actors, are listed this year for cases of conflict-related sexual violence, including parties added to the list in previous years.
New listings, Patten said, include three non-state actors operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, namely Wazalendo armed elements; Forces Nationales de Libération; and Mai Mai du groupe armé de l’Union des Patriotes pour la Libération du Congo.
Two new state actors are also listed, she said, “the Israel Armed and Security Forces; namely the Israel Defence Forces, Israel Prison Service, including the Keter Special Forces, and the Police Counter-terrorism Unit, Yamam, are listed on the basis of credible information indicating continued patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence, with an increase in the number of verified cases this year.”
In 2025, Patten said, “the UN was able to verify 31 cases, primarily in detention settings, but also at checkpoints and during military operations against 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, adding that this was “a pattern of sexual violence against Palestinians, including as a form of torture.”
These violations, she said, “consisted of rape, including with objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence to the genitals, instances of targeted shooting of the genitals, touching of breast and genitals, strip and cavity searches conducted without apparent security justification, forced nudity, and threats of rape.”
The Russian Armed and Security Forces, the Special Representative said, “have also been listed by the Secretary-General this year based on UN verified information indicating continued patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated primarily against Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees.”
She said, “in 2025, the UN was able to verify 310 cases of conflict related sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals, affecting 280 men, 26 women and four girls perpetrated by the Russian Armed and Security forces, including the Federal Penitentiary Service, the Russian Armed Forces and the Federal Security Service.”
Patten stressed that her mandate “isa Security Council mandate, and this is how countries fall within the purview of the mandate.”
She said it was “based on whether it is - and this is spelt out in Security Council Resolution 1960. And even the Secretary-General can only list parties, credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of sexual violence for countries that are on the agenda of the Security Council.”
The report indicates that sexual violence was perpetrated in detention in multiple settings, such as in Israel and the State of Palestine, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. In Myanmar, patterns of sexual violence continued to be used in detention settings as part of the repertoire of political violence to intimidate and punish opponents.
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