"The report covering the year 2022 presents a very disturbing picture of sexual violence being used as a tactic, torture, terrorism or political oppression," said Pramila Patten, UN special representative on sexual violence in armed conflict.
Pramila Patten, the UN special representative on sexual violence in armed conflict, who is expected in Israel on Sunday, denounced from Nice today a "very worrying" trend of this "invisible, cheap and effective weapon of war".
"The report covering the year 2022 presents a very disturbing picture of sexual violence being used as a tactic, torture, terrorism or political oppression," said Patten, opening a conference on the issue.
And while the legal tools are now in place at all levels around the world, the 2023 report, due to be discussed in April, "shows the same trends".
Over the past year, the UN representative has carried out missions to Ukraine, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
She will travel to Israel on Sunday "to gather data related to allegations of sexual violence during the October 7 attack" launched by Hamas, as she explained. "And we will also discuss with the Palestinian Authority and various officials in the occupied West Bank," he said.
He will be accompanied by experts and is expected to meet "survivors, witnesses and other persons affected by sexual violence" as well as "hostages and recently released prisoners", as the UN announced in early January.
The United Nations has been criticized for being too slow to respond to the rape and sexual violence Israel accuses Hamas of committing on October 7.
This unprecedented attack resulted in about 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the Israeli tally. About 250 people were kidnapped, of whom about 100 were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Patten participated today in a conference organized by the Côte d'Azur University and the NGO Bibliothèques sans Frontières (BSF/Libraries without Borders).