New York: Europe and the Arabs
State and non-state actors committed sexual violence as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism, and political repression against more than 4,600 people during the past year (2024), according to the sixteenth annual report of the UN Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence. According to the UN daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received this Friday morning, which added, "This figure represents a significant increase of 25% compared to 2023." A press release issued by the office of Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, stated that these alarming figures do not reflect the global scope and prevalence of these crimes.
The report's annex lists 63 parties, both state and non-state, who are credibly suspected of having committed or been responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence during armed conflicts on the UN Security Council's agenda.
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Hamas was listed in the report's annex based on information documented by the UN in 2024, indicating reasonable grounds to believe that some hostages taken to Gaza were subjected to various forms of sexual violence while in captivity, and clear and convincing information that sexual violence was also committed during the attacks of 7 October 2023 in at least six locations.
For the first time, the report includes an annex. To notify the parties of their possible inclusion in the next report of the Secretary-General.
The press release stated that the continued denial of access to UN monitors in the context of Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the temporarily occupied territories in Ukraine has made it difficult to conclusively document and determine the patterns, trends, and systematic nature of sexual violence in these contexts.
Given grave concerns about patterns of specific forms of sexual violence perpetrated by Israeli military and security forces, Russian military and security forces, and associated armed groups, the Secretary-General has notified these parties of their possible inclusion on the list of perpetrators of violations during the period covered by his next report.
This concern relates primarily to violations recorded in places of detention.
Libya
In Libya, two State entities were listed on the report: the Organized Crime and Terrorism Deterrence Agency and the Department for Combating Illegal Immigration, based on consistent reports of sexual violence—primarily in places of detention—recorded by the UN and reported in successive annual reports of the Secretary-General.
The Internal Security Agency (Benghazi), a non-State entity, was also listed due to documented patterns of violence. Sexual violence in detention.
Sudan
The Secretary-General's report stated that monitoring sexual violence in Sudan remains difficult due to the inability of service providers to access conflict-affected areas, stigma, and the collapse of rule of law institutions.
Despite these challenges, the United Nations documented cases of sexual violence against 90 women, 36 girls, 4 men, and 1 boy in 2024. These violations included individual and gang rape, attempted rape, and abduction for sexual exploitation. The report stated that 82 of these cases occurred in 2023.
The UN report added that members of the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias were involved in most of the cases. Members of armed movements and members of the Sudanese Armed Forces were also implicated.
A large number of individual and gang rapes were documented, particularly during the storming of cities, attacks on internally displaced persons (IDPs), and attacks against people fleeing conflict-affected areas. Women and girls were raped in their homes, in front of their family members, and in some cases after being abducted for periods exceeding Several days or months.
The Secretary-General called on the parties to immediately cease hostilities and all forms of sexual violence. He stressed the need to ensure full access to medical and psychological assistance and the unhindered participation of women in humanitarian services.
He also called on all UN Member States to comply with the existing arms embargo in Darfur pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1556 (2004). He appealed for increased funding to support refugees from Sudan, including survivors of sexual violence, and their host communities.
Sexual Violence in Detention
The UN report highlighted a distinct pattern of various forms of sexual violence in formal and informal places of detention, including as a method of torture, humiliation, and coercion to obtain information, particularly against men and boys but also including women and girls.
Non-State armed groups have used sexual violence to consolidate their control over land and natural resources and to implement their extremist ideologies.
The proliferation and availability of small arms and light weapons continue to fuel sexual violence in most contexts. Mass displacement and food insecurity have placed women and girls at heightened risk of sexual violence.
Another pattern identified in the report is Conflict-related abduction and human trafficking for the purposes of sexual slavery and sexual exploitation, perpetrated by parties including terrorist groups under UN Security Council sanctions.
Obstruction of Humanitarian Access
Despite growing needs, humanitarian access has been severely undermined or blocked by parties to conflict.
Special Representative Pramila Patten said that the unprecedented severity and scale of the destruction of health care facilities and attacks, harassment, and threats against frontline service providers have severely undermined the delivery of life-saving assistance to survivors during conflicts.

Victims often cannot access healthcare providers during the first 72 hours of their experience of rape, a critical period for accessing life-saving rape services, including HIV prevention.
Women are the majority of victims
The report stated that the largest number of cases were recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, the Central African Republic, Somalia, and South Sudan.
The report covers 21 countries for which UN-documented information was available. Victims included women, girls, men, and boys, including persons with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities, racial and ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities, ranging in age from 1 to 75.
25 years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, women still represent the vast majority of victims, at 92%.
The report stated that, in many cases, violent physical violence accompanied sexual attacks, with reports of summary executions (without due process) of victims following rape. Stigma, rooted in harmful social norms, leads to social and economic exclusion and poverty for survivors of this violence and their children, many of whom were born as a result of rape during wartime.
Measures to Prevent Sexual Violence
The UN Secretary-General reiterated his call on all parties to conflict to put in place specific measures to prevent sexual violence, as explicitly stated in Security Council Resolution 2467 of 2019.
This includes issuing clear orders across the chain of command prohibiting such violations, ensuring accountability for perpetrators, and allowing unhindered access for UN agencies for monitoring and service delivery.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, affirmed her readiness to engage and provide technical support to parties to respond to and prevent this violence.
Patten said, "The promise expressed by the Security Council through its six resolutions on sexual violence is prevention. We owe survivors more than solidarity; we owe them a life of dignity and effective and decisive action to prevent and eradicate these crimes."