Geneva, Sept 20. (dpa/GNA) – The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday, that it had documented widespread sexual violence and torture in Ukraine, with Russian authorities including military personnel, prison guards and police officers, responsible for 89% of the cases examined.
The youngest victim of crimes committed by Russian forces was a 4-year-old girl and the oldest victim an 82-year-old woman, said Danielle Bell, the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Her team has documented 1,004 cases since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, although investigators have been able to speak to only a fraction of the potential victims.
“The 1,004 cases are just a fraction of the reality,” Bell said. The findings are based on confidential interviews with hundreds of victims, as well as court records and official documents. The team has no access to Russian-occupied areas, and can only interview people who have been released from captivity and reached Ukrainian-controlled territory.
The UN office documented abuses including rape with prison keys or shovel handles, gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals. Most of the victims were men who had been held in captivity.
Many reported receiving electric shocks to their genitals. Russian prisoners of war have also reported sexual violence. Of 112 abuse cases documented by the UN team involving Russian prisoners, half involved threats rather than physical acts of sexual violence.
Ukraine gives the team access to all prisoner-of-war camps, while Russia does not cooperate, Bell noted.
The UN called on both Russia and Ukraine to investigate all credible allegations “promptly, thoroughly and impartially” and hold those responsible to account regardless of rank or affiliation.
GNA