Despite more than two decades of international efforts to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), perpetrators from Sudan to Burma to the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to commit crimes with impunity. In conflict situations around the globe, sexual violence is increasingly used as a weapon of choice by combatants, amounting to blatant violations of international humanitarian and human rights law with devastating consequences for survivors, their families, and entire communities. These impacts reverberate across societies and generations and undermine peace, security, and global stability.
“Rape and other forms of sexual violence are still too often viewed as collateral damage of war and internal conflict,” said former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during a convening at the United Nations (UN) today marking the 15th Anniversary of UNSCR 1888. “In too many countries and in too many cases, the perpetrators of this violence still go unpunished and their impunity encourages further attacks.”
Even though CRSV has received increased political attention since the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1888—a landmark resolution under the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda to combat the scourge of wartime sexual violence—an estimated 80 percent of cases in conflict settings still go unreported. Survivors face significant barriers to accessing critical healthcare services amidst active hostilities, especially those who experience multiple and overlapping forms of discrimination such as LGBTQ+ individuals, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and refugees or internally displaced persons. Insufficient training, lack of state capacity, and social stigmatization further discourage survivors from speaking out about their abuses, which precludes many from seeking justice and redress.
“We have reached an inflection point in this agenda. We must either scale up our collective response to protracted and emerging threats, or we risk the rollback of gains made over the past 15 years,” said UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten.
Russia’s unprovoked full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine has laid bare these trends. Officials estimate that hundreds of CRSV cases have been committed against women and girls, men and boys, and people of other gender identities. Sexual violence has become a predominant method of torture by Russian forces, with reports of victims as young as four and as old as 82. Yet, rapid response efforts and prospects for legal accountability are stronger than ever due to the concerted efforts to monitor and document crimes by the international community, the Ukrainian government, prosecutors, and women-led civil society organizations.
“Accountability is crucial and it begins with those at the top,” said Clinton. “Those who order attacks on civilian populations and those who carry out the attacks using systematic rape are guilty of crimes against humanity and must face consequences.”
Now more than ever, global cooperation and coordinated solutions are needed to end CRSV, hold perpetrators accountable, and follow through on international commitments to bring justice to survivors. As we approach the 15th anniversary of UNSCR 1888, here are eight recommendations for effective action:
- Deliver immediate survivor-centered assistance during armed conflict, including comprehensive health care, legal assistance, and psychosocial support. To ensure that holistic services are widely accessible, aid providers should use innovative, multilingual, and mobile outreach strategies that reach rural areas and displaced populations. Popular and well-respected religious and traditional leaders should also play an active role in combating stigma and raising awareness of essential services, especially for men and boys.
- Monitor patterns and trends in service delivery and access across conflict regions to ensure aid interventions reach those in need and are responsive to changing circumstances in conflict. UN personnel should partner with civil society organizations that are embedded in local communities to better track and analyze CRSV-related needs. International monitors should also coordinate information sharing on CRSV across mechanisms to inform evidence-based interventions guided by survivor priorities and needs.
- Engage and consult survivors, witnesses, and local organizations in the design and development of standardized documentation protocols to ensure evidence of CRSV can be used in legal proceedings. Protocols should operate under ‘Do No Harm’ principles aligned with the Murad Code and empower survivors to report abuses without fear of retaliation. Policymakers should consult legal experts and war crimes prosecutors to establish clear protocols for data sharing that prioritize survivor consent and data integrity, including IT tools to digitize and safeguard case files during active conflict. Any criminal justice or trial process should also ensure privacy safeguards are in place, such as limiting public disclosures, anonymizing names, and holding closed sessions.
- Conduct trauma-informed and gender-responsive trainings for police officers, judges, prosecutors, health workers, and qualified psychologists who are among the first points of contact for survivors of sexual violence. Trainings should take place in conflict-affected regions and cover the psychological impacts of CRSV, best practices for interacting with survivors, and strategies for identifying and referring cases that minimize the risk of re-traumatization.
- Prioritize urgent wartime reparations to address immediate needs and extend support, recognition, and compensation to survivors. In Ukraine, sustained funding for a pilot interim reparations project delivering one-time payments to victims of CRSV is needed to scale reparative efforts through 2025 and beyond. Longer-term reparations programs should encompass a wide range of medical, psychosocial, rehabilitative, and transformative measures and ensure access bypasses logistical or administrative constraints.
- Grant legal recognition to survivors as civilian victims of war, including for children born of wartime rape. Official legal status, without a deadline for status recognition, is essential to honor survivors’ right to reparation, welfare benefits, health and psychosocial assistance, and other urgent and ongoing protection measures. In tandem, processes for verifying survivor status should minimize administrative burdens, protect survivor interests, and prevent further stigmatization or ostracization. Status verification processes should also be conducted independently from law enforcement and criminal justice proceedings.
- Prohibit amnesty provisions in cases of CRSV to end impunity and ensure criminal justice prosecutions can be pursued. Accountability for CRSV should be a central component at the outset of any peace settlement or transitional justice process. Diplomatic actors should reinforce state obligations to international law across all platforms, including commitments to women’s meaningful participation and addressing CRSV under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the WPS Agenda.
- Explicitly list sexual violence as a standalone criterion in sanctions regimes and include targeted sanctions for perpetrators and enablers of CRSV in new and revised National Action Plans on WPS. Sanctions are a vital tool of accountability that allows the international community to clearly and publicly condemn human rights violations. International actors should name perpetrators where there is sufficient evidence and deny legitimacy to state parties committing wartime sexual violence, including by putting Russia on the UN Secretary General’s ‘List of Shame’ and in the annual report of the UN Special Representative of Sexual Violence in Conflict.
