Paris: Rapes and sexual attacks attributed to Moscow’s forces in Ukraine are a part of a Russian “army strategy” and a “planned tactic to dehumanise the sufferers”, UN envoy Pramila Patten advised AFP in an interview.
“All the symptoms are there,” the UN unique consultant on sexual violence advised AFP on Thursday, while requested if rape changed into getting used as a weapon of battle in Ukraine.
“When ladies are held for days and raped, whilst you begin to rape little boys and guys, whilst you see a chain of genital mutilations, whilst you pay attention ladies testify approximately Russian infantrymen geared up with Viagra, it is surely a army strategy,” she stated.
“And while the sufferers document what changed into stated at some point of the rapes, it’s far surely a planned tactic to dehumanise the sufferers.”
The United Nations has verified “greater than 100 instances” of rape or sexual attacks in Ukraine in view that Russia invaded in February, Ms Patten stated, regarding a UN document launched in overdue September.
The document “showed crimes in opposition to humanity devoted via way of means of the Russian forces, and in line with accrued testimonies, the age of the sufferers of sexual violence degrees from 4 to 82-years-old,” she stated.
The sufferers are by and large ladies and girls, however additionally guys and boys, she added.
But “pronounced instances are best the top of the iceberg,” she added.
“It’s very tough to have dependable data at some point of an energetic conflict, and the numbers will by no means replicate reality, due to the fact sexual violence is a silent crime” that is essentially underreported, she stated.
