War has always had a merciless face, but not all aspects of it can be seen in the news or reports from the battlefield. Behind the screams of sirens and explosions hides a silent but no less brutal front – sexual crimes. They have no voice, but they leave scars on the lives of thousands of people. These are weapons that are used not for victory on the battlefield, but for the destruction of human dignity, the destruction of the will and the intimidation of entire nations. Sexual crimes during war are one of the worst forms of violence. The ongoing war in Ukraine is no exception. Hundreds of women, children, and even men became victims of violence by the Russian military. These crimes are not limited to rape – they are cruel abuse, psychological humiliation, physical destruction of the individual. That is why they should not remain in the shadows.
Historical context: from antiquity to modern times
The history of wars is replete with cases of sexual violence that have occurred in military conflicts since ancient times. They were part of the conquerors’ tactics, a method of terrorizing the civilian population, and a form of power and control over the conquered people. In ancient times, when the Roman legions conquered new territories, sexual violence was a common practice, and the victims were taken into slavery. Women became trophies, and men became witnesses of this humiliation, which morally destroyed their spirit of resistance. Take for example the Peloponnesian War, where the Athenians and Spartans used sexual violence to morally subjugate the vanquished. Even then, rape was considered not only as an act of violence, but also as a tool of total domination.
The First World War, while not having as many documented cases of sexual violence as later conflicts, was also a time when women were raped by soldiers. In the occupied territories of France and Belgium, German troops committed numerous crimes against the civilian population, including rape. However, society at that time remained silent about such crimes, due to which many victims remained without support and help.
The mass rapes in the Nanking Massacre of 1937 are one of the darkest pages in the history of military violence. Tens of thousands of Chinese women, including children and elderly women, were raped by Japanese soldiers for several weeks. Similar horrors took place in Europe.
During the Second World War, sexual violence became one of the integral parts of military operations on all fronts. The German army used it as a means of intimidation in the occupied territories, in particular in Poland and Ukraine. At the same time, many women who were raped by German soldiers were sent to camps because they were considered dangerous “carriers” of potential enemies. Their fate was particularly tragic, they were subjected to moral humiliation and discrimination by their own society. This double suffering was not only physical, but also moral: they became exiles in their own country. At that time, many of them could not stand it – some shortened their lives, and others remained mentally traumatized for life.
The Vietnam War of 1955-1975 was another conflict in which sexual violence was a common practice. Numerous testimonies of Vietnamese women describe cases of rape committed by American soldiers. This was part of a wider campaign to terrorize the Vietnamese population in order to suppress guerrilla resistance. After the war, Vietnamese women talked about the special cruelty of American soldiers, who not only raped them, but also humiliated them morally and physically. Pregnant women who suffered violence were persecuted after the war as possible collaborators, or their children were considered “descendants of enemies.”
One of the most famous crimes of this war is the Songma Massacre on March 16, 1968. American soldiers stormed the village of Songmi, where in a few hours they killed about 500 civilians, including women, children and the elderly. Many women were raped before they were executed. It was one of the darkest moments of the war, which forever left a mark on the consciousness of American society. The soldiers who participated in these crimes were not adequately held accountable for their actions, which caused a wave of protests in America after the facts of the crime became public knowledge.
Modern realities in Ukraine
According to the UN, in 2023, the number of cases of sexual violence related to military conflicts in the world increased by 50%, compared to 2022. Crimes were committed both against civilians and prisoners of war. This was reported by the special representative of the UN Secretary General on sexual violence in conflict situations, Pramila Patten, at the annual debate of the UN Security Council on this topic. The report examined 21 conflicts in which 3,688 sexual crimes were recorded. Thus, according to UN data, in 2023, in 95% of verified cases, victims of sexual violence were girls and women, and 5% – men and boys. At the same time, she mentioned Ukraine only once in her speech, noting that after the full-scale invasion of Russia, thousands of displaced persons face an increased risk of becoming victims of human traffickers.
As recently as 2022, Canadian Foreign Ministers Melanie Jolie and Great Britain’s Elizabeth Truss stated that sexual violence during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was used as a systematic tool to subjugate and control women. They compared it to chemical weapons and land mines, which are banned by international conventions because of their destructive power, stressing that sexual violence has a similar effect in the context of war.
Sexual violence is recognized not just as a war crime, but as part of genocidal tactics. The occupation of Ukrainian cities brought with it a wave of the cruelest forms of abuse of the civilian population. Thus, during the liberation of the city of Bucha, 25 documented cases of rape were discovered, which shocked not only Ukraine, but also the world. Women in the occupied territories told how Russian soldiers broke into their homes, abused them, and then killed their husbands and children in cold blood. In many cases, the crimes were committed in front of the relatives in order to inflict as much pain and humiliation as possible.
One more of the many cases that was widely reported in the media should be mentioned. An hour after being detained by Russian security forces, the manager of the farm, Roman Shapovalenko, was threatened with rape. He said that three armed employees of the Federal Security Service in masks broke into his house in Kherson, which at the time was occupied by Russian troops. This case was discussed in a special CNN reports.
According to Roman, the Russian security forces turned the entire house over in search of incriminating evidence. It turned out that one message on Shapovalenko’s phone was enough for them, where he called Russian soldiers “Orcs”. After that, he was tied up, blindfolded and forced into a car without identification marks. For several days, he was subjected to brutal torture: electric shocks in the genital area, threats to rape him with a glass bottle, and even making him believe that he could be sterilized.
“It seems they had some kind of genital fetish. Sometimes the door would open and they would say, “We’re going to take out the sticks now and rape everyone here.” Shapovalenko said.
Olena (name changed), a resident of the Kherson region, told her terrible story during the evacuation:
“We were hiding in the basement when they came. They took me and several neighbors out. We were raped for several hours. They said that we will be their “trophies”, that they have the right to do whatever they want with us, because they are the owners now.”
Recently, a woman who went missing after the invasion was found in the Kharkiv region. Her body was found in the woods, and the marks of violence indicate severe abuse. Local residents claim that they heard her screams, but were powerless to help because of fear of the Russian military. She became another victim of this invisible war.
Such stories are not isolated cases, the real number of such crimes, according to experts, remains much higher. Most of the cases are not recorded due to fear of the victims or lack of access to the occupied territories.
Measures to help victims of sexual violence
The urgency of this problem is extremely acute for Ukraine. With the beginning of the war, the scale of sexual violence in the Ukrainian territories that were under the occupation of the Russian Federation increased significantly. This fact received condemnation and a call for the inevitable punishment of guilty persons by the world states, international organizations – the UN, the Council of Europe, the EU, the human rights community and civil society. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, since the beginning of the war, prosecutors have recorded 310 cases of war-related sexual violence. Among the victims are 113 men and 197 women, 15 of them minors. Most cases were recorded in Kherson, Kyiv and Donetsk regions.
These crimes are also recognized and confirmed by such organizations as the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and various non-governmental human rights organizations. However, statistics provided by official bodies do not fully reflect the scale of crimes, they illustrate only the tip of the iceberg, as not all victims are ready to testify due to fear of public condemnation or for the safety of loved ones who may be in the temporarily occupied territories. In some cases, victims simply do not have the internal resource to interact with the law enforcement system.
It should be noted that sexual violence related to war is often silenced due to the taboo nature of this topic. Only a small number of victims report these crimes to law enforcement agencies, as many of them fear re-victimization and try to forget their traumatic experience. At the same time, victims face social condemnation and prejudice against such crimes, which further encourages them to remain silent. This, in turn, impairs their access to justice, health care, social protection and reparations. Many victims find it difficult to acknowledge or report other forms of sexual violence, such as forced exposure, forced abortions, sterilization, coercion to observe sexual violence or threats of rape. Often these forms of violence are associated exclusively with rape or with cases affecting only women.
The experience of other countries, such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Kosovo, Peru, Croatia, which also faced similar tragedies during armed conflicts, shows that the investigation of such cases can last for years or even decades. Therefore, the issue of developing and adopting legislative acts regarding the procedure for establishing the status of injured persons and family members of dead (deceased) persons, as well as providing them with urgent interim reparations, is extremely important.
The principle of emergency aid to victims meets international standards. UN General Assembly Resolution 60/147 of December 16, 2005 emphasizes the right to “adequate, effective and prompt compensation for the damage caused.” This means that the victims of war crimes must be provided not only with justice, but also with the opportunity to receive rehabilitation and financial support.
International law recognizes sexual violence during war not only as a war crime, but also as a crime against humanity and torture. This is the so-called “silent crime”, which leads to serious and long-lasting physical, psychological and socio-economic consequences for the victims, their families and society as a whole. The list of acts that fall under the definition of sexual violence in wartime is defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified this document on August 21, 2024, which became an important step in the context of the struggle for justice for victims of sexual crimes.
On June 19, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the first reading draft law No. 10132 “On the status of victims of sexual violence related to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and urgent interim reparations.” However, it has not yet been adopted, but is at the stage of development before the second reading.
The draft law proposes to determine at the legislative level the legal status of victims of sexual violence associated with the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and family members of the dead (deceased) of such persons, and the legal basis for providing them with urgent interim reparations in the form of medical, psychological and social services that will help to restore the physical and mental health of the affected persons. It determines that victims can be recognized as victims of sexual violence related to Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, as well as children born as a result of this violence. However, individuals who have committed crimes against national security or other serious offenses during the aggression will not be eligible for assistance.
According to the draft law, in order to receive financial assistance or undergo rehabilitation, victims will have to submit an application to the Commission for consideration of issues related to the recognition of victims. The commission will work on the basis of the Ministry of Social Policy, and its composition will be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. In addition to representatives of state bodies, the Commission will also include representatives of public and international organizations who have experience working with victims of war crimes.
The applicant will have to fill out a special questionnaire and undergo an interview. If a person has already been recognized as a victim within the framework of criminal proceedings regarding war crimes, the procedure may be simplified. For minors under the age of 14 and people with mental disorders, applications are considered without interviews, based on other evidence. The interview may be conducted in the presence of the applicant’s lawyer or legal representative.
A feature of this process is the maximum protection of personal data of the victims and prevention of re-traumatization. The state guarantees confidentiality at all stages of interaction with victims of sexual crimes. Contacting the law enforcement agencies is not a mandatory condition for receiving assistance. The injured person has the right to receive medical and psychological rehabilitation first, and only then, at his own request, to join the criminal proceedings.
Therefore, the adoption of this draft law will contribute to prompt response to the needs of the injured persons and relatives of the dead (or deceased), ensuring the victims the right to adequate and effective extrajudicial protection, compensation for the damage caused and restoration of the violated rights of the victims.
Sexual violence in war is a silent but relentlessly brutal weapon that destroys lives, communities and entire nations. It leaves no traces on the ground, but leaves indelible wounds in the souls of the victims. The victims of these crimes were not just physically hurt, their souls were broken, and that wound may never heal. The fact that these crimes are taking place in the modern world is a deep blow to humanity. We cannot remain indifferent witnesses when the most vulnerable suffer. Sexual violence in war is an act of genocide aimed at breaking the morale of a nation, and its effects are felt for generations.
Ukrainian society should not be silent, but act. It is necessary to hear these stories, to give them publicity, so that everyone knows that the victims of violence are not alone. And most importantly, the guilty must be punished. Impunity breeds new crimes, and we cannot allow this to continue. War must not leave behind silent witnesses, and the world must come to the defense of those who have become victims of this invisible weapon.
