In 2024 alone, the UN checked approximately 4,500 cases of sexual violence related to conflicts (CRSV), although the real number is probably much higher. Women and overwhelming girls were women and girls.

Under international law, the CRSV is recognized as a war crime, a crime against humanity and an act which can constitute a genocide. Its lasting impact undermines efforts to strengthen sustainable peace.

Thursday, the UN marked the International day for the elimination of sexual violence in conflicts, Highlight the lasting and intergenerational effects of this brutal tactic.

War tactics

In many conflicts, sexual violence is deliberately used to terrorize, punish and humiliate civilians.

“” It is used to terrorize, punish, but also to humiliate civilians, especially women and girls,“Said Esmeralda Alabre, coordinator of the United Nations Reproductive Health Agency (Unfpa) Response to sexist violence in Sudan, addressing the UN News.

But the evil does not stop with the survivors. The CRSV is often used to tear communities and undermine social cohesion. It fragments families, spreads fear and deepens societal divisions.

In Haiti, the gangs forced family members to violate their own mothers and wives, according to Pascale Solages, founder of a feminist organization in the country.

The body of women is transformed into battlefields. The authors aim to destroy community links, using rape as a tool for domination and control. The survivors are left to carry the burden of trauma, stigma and isolation, She said UN News.

Generational trauma

Many survivors are silenced by fears of reprisals and reprisals: “To break the cycle, we must face the horrors of the past,” said UN secretary general, António Guterres, in a statement mark the day.

The trauma is not only immediate, but also creates deep and lasting intergenerational injuries, because the cycle of violence often has an impact on several generations.

Avoided by their communities, many survivors are forced to raise children born by themselves. “” It is almost as if their cries were ignored by the world“Said Ms. Alabre.

The survivors of the CRSV and their children, often excluded from education, employment and other essential aspects of life, are pushed into poverty – more deepening their vulnerability.

“” For too many women and children, war is not over when it is finished“Said the United Nations Special Representative who advocates all those who experience sexual violence in conflict circles, Pramila Patten.

Need for responsibility

Survivors not only have the right to security and support, but also to justice and repair. Again, ” Too often, the authors walk freely, masked with impunity while survivors often carry the impossible burden of stigma and shameSaid Mr. Guterres.

The limited availability of support services, especially after recent aid reductions, is the healing of survivors: not only does it become more difficult for survivors to hold their responsible attackers, and prevention efforts have been blocked by funding cuts in many capitals since the beginning of the year.

“What happened to me could have been prevented,” Ms. Patten told many times.

However, in March only, the UNFPA Sudan office had to close 40 safe spaces for women and girls, hindering efforts to provide immediate and long -term care to survivors.

Community interventions, support adapted to children to the education of children’s survivors and changes in legislative policy play a crucial role in the prevention of the CRSV.

“” If we have the investment in the resumption of women, we sons up the investment in the resumption of conflicts and that we all inherit a less sure world“Said Ms. Patten.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on a “maximum deduction” on Thursday and reiterated that Israel and Iran are linked by international humanitarian law.

“The large -scale and continuous attacks of Israel through Iran, and missile and drone strikes launched in response by Iran, inflict serious human rights and humanitarian impacts on civilians, and Risk of fixing the whole region on fire“He said in a press release.

“” The only way to get out of this climbing spiral illogical is a maximum restraintFull respect for international law and return in good faith to the negotiating table, “he said.

Appalling collateral damage

The head of the Rights of the United Nations also expressed his deep concern about the impact on civilians.

“” It is appalling to see how civilians are treated as collateral damage in the conduct of hostilities“He said, adding that the threats and the inflammatory rhetoric of senior officials on both sides suggest a” disturbing intention “to inflict damage to civilians.

Air strikes, missiles and drone attacks – launched by Israel and Iran since June 13 – have caused heavy damage to civil infrastructure and have won hundreds of lives.

According to Iranian authorities, at least 224 people were killed, while human rights groups report significantly higher figures. In Israel, officials report 24 deaths and more than 840 injuries so far.

Generalized panic

Warnings from the two governments have also caused a widespread panic among civilians.

The call of Israel to civilians to evacuate Tuesday triggered panic through Tehran, causing heavy traffic jams on the motorways. The movement would have been hampered across the country by fuel shortages, causing queues for several hours in the service stations.

Refugee

The United Nations High Commissioner Office for Refugees (Hcr) expressed serious concerns about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation, adding that he was monitoring the reports that people are in movement in Iran and that some leave for neighboring countries.

UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch warned that the situation remained fluid and difficult to verify.

“” Iran has long welcomed the largest population of Afghan refugees in the world. Now, his own people have a devastation and fear“Added Mr. Baloch.

He also underlined the principle of non-refoulement, calling for neighboring countries to give protection to anyone fleeing violence and not to return them.

Iran welcomes around 3.5 million refugees and those of refugee type situations, including some 750,000 Afghans registered and more than 2.6 million undocumented people.

Regional concerns

There are already regional benefits, with missile launches from Yemen to Israel and the Palestinian territory occupied and increased tensions involving armed groups in Iraq, according to Ochha.

“” This escalation takes place while the region is already struggling with growing humanitarian needs, strongly reduced funding and an operational space forced to humanitarian action“Said the office in a Flash update Posted Wednesday.

“De -escalation is vital to prevent new suffering from civilians and the displacements of the population,” said OCHA.

Speaking of Gaza City in the north of the occupied territory, Olga Cherevko of the United Nations Coordination Office, Ochhasaid that the water pumps had stopped on a site for people displaced there Wednesday “Because there is no fuel”.

“We are really – unless the situation changes – A few hours before a catastrophic decline and a closure of more installations if no fuel penetrates or more fuel is not immediately recovered, “she said News News.

In its latest emergency update, OCHA said that without immediate fuel entry or access to reserves, 80% of Gaza intensive care units for births and medical emergencies will close.

More killed by looking for help

Development comes as the Gaza authorities reported that 15 people had been killed near a help center for aid center on Thursday.

On Tuesday, not verified videos from another incident circulating on social networks have shown corpses in the street near a rescue center in the southern city of Khan Younis, which would have followed an artillery fire.

Finding food is a daily challenge for increasingly desperate Gazans who are “Just wait for food and hope to find something so as not to look at their children starving before their eyes“Said Ms. Cherevko.

She added: “I spoke with a woman a few days ago when she told me that she had gone with one of her friends who was nine months pregnant in the hope of finding food.

Of course, they did not succeed because they were too afraid of entering areas where there could be incidents like those who have been reported in the past few days. »»

Search for shelter

Back in Gaza City, Ms. Cherenko of Ocha said that the conditions in the shelters in Gaza are now “absolutely horrible” and more and more congested – “there are people who come constantly from the north,” added the veteran, while others are also going north, probably closer to the entry points for aid conveyors.

The quantity of help entering Gaza today remains extremely limited and well below the 600 trucks per day which reached the enclave before the start of the war in October 2023. In its last updateOcha reported that “famine and an increasing probability of famine” are still present in the enclave. It is estimated that 55,000 pregnant women are now confronted with miscarriage, mortincy and undernourished newborns following the food shortage.

Famine regime

“With the very limited aid volume that has entered, Everyone continues to face famine and people are constantly risking their lives to try to find something“Continued Ms. Cherevko.

“” You eat or [you’re] left with the choice to die of hunger to death. “”

After more than 20 months of war, triggered by terrorist attacks led by Hamas in Israel, 82% of the Gaza territory is either a militarized Israeli area, or affected by evacuation orders.

Three months since hostilities re -granted on March 18, more than 680,000 people were newly moved. “Without a safe place, many people have sought refuge in all available spaces, including overcrowded travel sites, makeshift shelters, damaged buildings, streets and open areas,” said Ocha.