Filenews 4 May 2022
Men and boys are among the alleged victims of rape by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, where dozens of cases of sexual violence by the invading forces are already under investigation, UN and Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
"I have received reports, which have not yet been verified ... for cases of sexual violence against men and boys in Ukraine," Pramila Patten, a special representative on sexual violence in war, told a news conference in Kiev.
Patten added that it can be especially difficult for male rape survivors to report the crime.
"It's hard for women and girls to report [rape] because of stigma among other things, but it's often even harder for men and boys to report ... we must create this safe space for all victims to report cases of sexual violence", he stressed.
As reported by the Guardian, she warned that the dozens of cases of sexual violence being investigated so far "are only the tip of the iceberg", while calling on the international community to find the perpetrators and hold them responsible.
"Today's documentation will be tomorrow's prosecution," he said.
Ukraine's attorney general Iryna Venediktova said Tuesday that her office has collected reports of sexual violence by Russian troops against men and women of all ages, from children to the elderly.
Speaking at a news conference, Venediktova said Moscow is using rape as "part of its strategy."
"This is, of course, to scare society ... to do everything to [force Ukraine to] capitulate."
There have been few public reports of sexual violence in Ukraine. Some victims have fled the country and others who are afraid to talk about their experience, Venediktova said.
Evidence gathers on widespread sexual violence
However, teams of prosecutors and researchers have been gathering evidence of widespread sexual violence since Russian forces retreated.
Gang rapes, attacks at gunpoint and rapes committed in front of children are among the grim testimonies they have collected from the victims and their families.
They were held in a basement and systematically raped
Evidence that some Ukrainian women were raped before they were murdered, doctors say.
The country's human rights commissioner, Lyudmila Denisova, has officially documented the cases of 25 women who were held in a basement and systematically raped in Buka.
Coroners conducting autopsies on women buried in mass graves say they have also found evidence that some of them were raped before being killed by Russian forces.
The UN envoy said she visited Kiev because of overwhelming evidence of widespread, systematic sexual violence, as well as the risk Ukrainian women run from human trafficking if they try to flee their homeland.
"All warning signs are flashing in red in Ukraine, with allegations of brutal sexual violence emerging," she said at a news conference with Ukraine's deputy prime minister Olga Stefanisina.
