The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is a severe violation of human rights.
Sexual violence against women, men, girls, and boys is often perpetrated in conflicts as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism and political repression. Forms of sexual violance such as rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced marriage, as well as any other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity, perpetrated against women, men, girls, or boys and directly or indirectly linked to a conflict are used as a mean to deepen control over a territory. Although women and girls are most affected by conflict-related sexual violences, anyone may be targeted, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, or socio-economic background.
While sexual violence is an ever-existing plague even in peaceful settings, in conflict situations multiple variables allow this form of torture to continue to be perpetrated and even encouraged. Sexual assaults are used to push enemy groups out of areas of interest, to destroy social ties, to oppress, subjugate, control and exact revenge. Indeed, when we speak of “rape as a weapon of war,” we refer to its systematic use. By inflicting severe physical and psychological trauma, perpetrators of sexual violence seek to instill terror among civilian populations. These practices destabilize communities and destroy their capacity for resistance. Sexual violences thus become instruments of terror, domination, destruction of the social fabric, “ethnic cleansing”, forced displacement of populations, and the dehumanization of the enemy. This understanding emerged prominently in international jurisprudence following conflicts such as the Bosnian War (1992–1995) and the Rwandan genocide (1994).
What does the international law say?
Sexual assault is strictly proscribed under international law; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) prohibits sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence against women and girls as a form of discrimination; additionally the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence condemns any form of gender based violence and clearly states that the convention shall apply equally in times of peace and in situation of armed conflicts.
To further underline the gravity of the crime, following a judgment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, sexual violence is recognized at international level as a form of torture. A landmark development also came from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. In Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu (1998), the Tribunal became the first international court to recognize that acts of sexual violence can constitute elements of the crime of genocide, marking a turning point in the legal recognition of conflict-related sexual violence.
Even so at national level only a limited number of states explicitly recognize the same, creating a gap that leads to these acts to be judged as ordinary crimes of rape or sexual assaults, which imply much lower penalties than torture.
The normative framework on conflict-related sexual violence was significantly strengthened in the 2000s through resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. Notably, Resolution 1325 (2000) recognized the gendered impact of armed conflict and called for the protection of women and their participation in peace processes. Later, Resolution 1820 (2008) explicitly acknowledged that sexual violence can be used as a tactic of war and may constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or an act of genocide, framing it as a threat to international peace and security.
Beyond international human rights law, conflict-related sexual violence is also prohibited under international humanitarian law and international criminal law. Article 76 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions provides special protection for women against rape and enforced prostitution. Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court codify rape and other forms of sexual violence as both war crimes and crimes against humanity. Recent jurisprudence, including the conviction in Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, has reaffirmed individual criminal responsibility for sexual and gender-based crimes committed in conflict settings .
An additional aggravating factor is that the contexts in which these crimes are perpetrated hinder their reporting. It has been estimated that for every reported case of war time sexual violence, up to 20 more cases remain undocumented. Keeping this ratio in mind, it is important to underline that a UN report from 2024 confirms that globally more than 4,600 survivors endured abuses used as weapons of war, torture, terrorism and political repression.
Sexual violence continues to be used in conflicts all around the world
The persistence of conflict-related sexual violence is documented across numerous contemporary conflicts worldwide, including situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Somalia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Syria and Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Iran, Haiti, and Yemen. The following examples from Ukraine and Palestine illustrate how these patterns continue to manifest in ongoing conflicts.
In Ukraine, a significant number of survivors have come forward to speak out about their experience making visible the reality of the abuses they have endured. A 2025 UN report testifies that since the 24th of February 2022 a total of 664 cases of conflict related sexual violence have been perpetrated by Russian officials on individuals of all genders and a total of 79 cases have been inflicted by Ukrainian officials on Russian prisoners of war.
Sexual violence is continuously used by the Russian army as a form of torture against detainees, and everyday civil woman and girls live in fear of being assaulted in residential areas of territory under Russian occupation. Victims report experiencing rape, gang rape, sexual assault, forced nudity, sexual degradation, sexual harassment and threats.
An even more systematic use of gendered based violence is being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians. Sexual violence has been widely normalized and justified by israeli forces following the 7th October attack by Hamas. Palestinians have been depicted as the “rapist population”, sexual assaults allegedly perpetrated against Israeli women have been seen as an attack to Israel collective honor and an attempt to demasculinize the nation. Acts which require proportionate retaliation and revenge, as Israeli women’s bodies and minds do not belong only to the single individual but to the all male collective society.
Feeling therefore entitled to avenge their nation, Israeli soldiers and settlers have been increasingly attacking Palestinian women with acts that aim, not only to hurt the singular, but to shame the whole population leading to sexual assaults, invasion of privacy, online displacement of personal effects and public humiliation to be reportedly performed by Israeli forces.
At the same time sexual violence has been used against palestinian men as a way to put to shame the victims in detention centers as well as during raids. The UN commission documented cases of sexual and gender-based violence against individuals of both genders in more than 10 military and Israel Prison Services facilities.
Despite solid proof of the above mentioned crimes, often provided directly by the perpetrators that post triumphant evidence of these acts online, no concrete action has been taken by the Israel authorities to punish them. Instead efforts have been directed at instructing soldiers not to leave online traces of their abuses, leading to silent encouragement to carry on with this tactic.
It is essential that both states and international institutions hold perpetrators of these crimes accountable, recognizing them as part of a systemic use of violence, a deliberate tactic rather than isolated, unconnected incidents. Preventive measures should focus on education of armed forces and the elimination of passive complicity by military chiefs and governments. Ulterior precautions should also be taken to ensure adequate assistance to the survivors, who find themselves trying to cope with the effects of the violence suffered in an already complicated and dangerous environment.
Sources
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 18 December 1979.
Council of Europe, Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), 11 May 2011.
Prosecutor v. Furundžija, IT-95-17/1-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 10 December 1998, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, ICTR-96-4-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber I), 2 September 1998, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen, ICC-02/04-01/15, Judgment (Trial Chamber IX), 4 February 2021, International Criminal Court.
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 17 July 1998.
United Nations General Assembly, Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: Note by the Secretary-General (A/79/181), 2024.
United Nations Human Rights Council, More than a Human Can Bear, 2024.
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine: 1 December 2024 – 31 May 2025.
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine: 1 June – 30 November 2025.
United Nations Secretary-General, Report on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (S/2024/292).
United Nations Secretary-General, Report on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (S/2025/389).
United Nations Security Council, Resolution 1325 (S/RES/1325), 31 October 2000.
United Nations Security Council, Resolution 1820 (S/RES/1820), 19 June 2008.