Nearly 9,800 verified cases were recorded across 21 conflict affected countries, with women and girls overwhelmingly targeted as the UN called for stronger action to protect survivors and ensure accountability…reports Asian Lite News Desk
Conflict related sexual violence increased sharply across the world in 2025, with nearly 9,800 verified cases recorded in conflict zones and women and girls bearing the brunt of the abuse, according to a new United Nations report.
Releasing the UN’s annual report on Friday, Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten said the figures reflected a worsening global crisis driven by insecurity, displacement and shrinking resources for survivors.
“In 2025 documented cases of sexual violence as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism and political repression marked by extreme brutality and overwhelmingly targeting women and girls increased dramatically,” Patten told reporters at UN Headquarters.
The report verified 9,788 cases of conflict related sexual violence during 2025 across 21 conflict affected countries. However, Patten stressed that the figure represented only a fraction of the actual scale of the problem.
“The figures contained in this report should be understood not as the full picture, but as an indication of a much broader pattern of violations that remain largely unseen and underreported,” she said.
The report documented rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, trafficking and abductions committed by both state and non state actors. While women and girls remained the primary targets, men and boys were also subjected to sexual violence, often in detention facilities and as a form of torture.
LGBTQI+ individuals also faced an elevated risk of persecution and harassment, while victims ranged in age from one to 70 years old. The report additionally recorded cases involving persons with disabilities.
Patten said the violence was frequently accompanied by severe physical abuse, including killings following rape and incidents of suicide among survivors.
“At its heart, this report is about the human suffering of all these survivors and communities living in the shadow of war,” she said.
According to the report, non state armed groups, including organised criminal networks, continued to use sexual violence as a tool to exert control over communities and territories, particularly in areas rich in natural resources.
Displaced and refugee women and girls remained especially vulnerable, particularly in remote and border regions where support systems had collapsed. The widespread availability of small arms also contributed to the rise in sexual violence across several conflict zones.
The report noted that restrictions on humanitarian access, insecurity and funding shortages were making it increasingly difficult to document abuses and provide assistance to survivors.
The annex to the report lists 77 parties responsible for patterns of conflict related sexual violence, including 62 non state actors.
Three armed groups operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were newly added to the list: the Wazalendo armed elements, the Forces nationales de libération, and the Mai Mai du groupe armé de l’Union des patriotes pour la libération du Congo.
Two state actors, the Russian armed and security forces and the Israeli armed and security forces, were also added after the UN documented continued patterns of sexual violence linked to them. Both had been placed on notice for possible listing in last year’s report.
The report called on the UN Security Council and member states to strengthen prevention efforts, accountability mechanisms and support services for survivors. Recommendations include ensuring unhindered humanitarian access, expanding monitoring and sanctions measures, supporting women’s protection advisers in UN missions, strengthening investigations and prosecutions, and increasing funding for medical, psychosocial and legal assistance.
Patten urged governments and international organisations to keep survivors at the centre of their response.
“These violations are neither isolated nor confined to a handful of contexts,” she said.
“They are global in scale, devastating in impact and demand a response centred not on political posturing, selective outrage or pre conceived narratives, but on the rights, needs and dignity of victims and survivors.”
