Sexual violence in conflicts worldwide surged by 25% last year, with Haiti, the Central African Republic, Congo, Somalia, and South Sudan seeing the highest number of cases, according to a U.N. report released Thursday.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’ annual report recorded more than 4,600 survivors of sexual violence in 2024, with armed groups responsible for most attacks, though some were carried out by government forces. Guterres emphasized that these U.N.-verified figures likely underestimate the global scale of the crimes.
The report’s blacklist names 63 government and non-government actors in a dozen countries suspected of committing or enabling rape and other forms of sexual violence in conflict, including Hamas militants involved in the 2023 Gaza war. Over 70% of those listed have appeared on the blacklist for five years or more without implementing steps to curb the abuse, the U.N. chief said.
For the first time, Israel’s military and security forces, as well as Russian forces and affiliated armed groups, have been notified that credible information could place them on next year’s blacklist if preventive measures are not taken. Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon dismissed the allegations as biased, while Russia’s U.N. mission had no comment.
The report defines “conflict-related sexual violence” to include rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy or abortion, forced sterilization, and forced marriage. Women and girls make up the majority of victims, who ranged from ages 1 to 75.
“In 2024, proliferating and escalating conflicts were marked by widespread conflict-related sexual violence, amid record displacement and militarization,” Guterres said. “Sexual violence continued to be used as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism and political repression.”
Women and girls were targeted at home, on the streets, and while trying to earn a living. In Haiti, as in the Central African Republic and Congo, sexual violence was used to punish those perceived to be associated with rival armed groups and to consolidate control over territory and resources. Detention facilities in multiple countries—including Israel, Libya, Myanmar, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen—also saw sexual violence used as a form of torture.
The report also highlighted alarming cases in the Central African Republic, Congo, and Sudan, with hundreds of documented incidents of rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriage, often accompanied by extreme physical violence.
