In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has surged, reflecting a broader trend of its strategic use in global conflicts. This article delves into the specific case of Russian-perpetrated CRSV in Ukraine, examining its brutal manifestations and the role of proxy warfare.
Shortly after Russia’s full-scale and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the United Nations (UN) reported a significant surge in conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), highlighting how this particularly barbaric war crime’s strategic use has increased across various conflicts around the world.
Russian Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ukraine
An indiscriminate wave of brutality has accompanied the Russian Army since its invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014, with Russian-affiliated forces conducting CRSV against the Ukrainian population ever since. This has included the targeting of civilians from many different demographics: men, women, the elderly, and children as young as four years old, subjecting them to forms of sexual violence that are difficult to comprehend. These atrocities include rape, gang rape, forced nudity, castration, and sterilisation, with some women in occupied regions held as sexual slaves.
These crimes have been frequently carried out in view of the victims’ families, including their children, in a particularly striking and gruesome parallel to the reported atrocities conducted by the terror group Hamas against Israeli civilians on 7 October 2023.
Additionally, Ukrainian prisoners of war within Russian detention chambers have been subjected to extreme sexual abuse as a form of torture, to both humiliate and extract forced confessions under the most extreme duress.
Two years after that pivotal UN declaration made in the early days of Russia’s reinvasion, I found myself in Kyiv to commemorate the invasion’s second anniversary. I had the opportunity to speak with Ukrainian officials and their brave people to introduce my upcoming report for the Henry Jackson Society, A Culture of Impunity: Understanding Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Contemporary Proxy Warfare.
This report scrutinises our collective failure to safeguard Ukrainians, and even victims globally, urging the UN to update its archaic and overly optimistic view of warfare, which overlooks the covert operations by its member states – in this particular case, the Russian state.
The rising tide of sexual violence in conflicts is intricately linked to the increased reliance on non-state actors in armed conflicts, fostering a culture where sexual crimes are met with impunity, facilitated by proxy warfare.
States’ strategic involvement in proxy warfare, through the training, financial support, or arming of non-state actors, has been largely overlooked by many policymakers, practitioners, and military experts.
For instance, the Kremlin’s over-reliance and use of the Wagner Mercenary Force to fill power vacuums across the Middle East and Africa demonstrates this strategy, allowing Moscow to extract resources, sway foreign leaders and maintain plausible deniability for its own malign geopolitical ambitions and their subsequent and widespread human rights violations.
Moscow’s employment of proxies has significantly advanced its geopolitical goals beyond its own borders, circumventing political risks both domestically and internationally – a key advantage of proxy warfare.
However, the stark reality of this approach has been apparent in Ukraine for many years, with Moscow’s secret services and proxy forces committing horrendous atrocities in Eastern Ukraine since 2014, actions that have received scant attention from the international community, which preferred to refer to “pro-Russian separatists” and “Russian-affiliated forces”.
Putin’s ability to deny responsibility for his crimes, including severe acts of sexual violence committed by his paramilitaries and regular forces, has allowed Russia to subtly undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, identity, and democracy, all while enjoying the privileges of Western diplomacy.
The Case for International Reform
The success of this strategy is particularly evident when looking back as the world gathered for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow, while Russia, through its paramilitaries and regular forces, had already occupied Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine, perpetrating sexual violence and other serious human rights abuses.
It was only with the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia (the MH17 case) in November 2022 that Russia’s control over the region and its paramilitary operations in Eastern Ukraine were officially recognised. This case of somewhat wilful ignorance towards Russia’s proxy warfare points to a systemic issue on an international scale.
From Iran’s long-standing support for Hamas to the Maoist rebels in Nepal and the guerrilla groups in Colombia, the global use of proxy forces leads to the emergence of independent rogue actors, operating outside the laws of war and international law, with unpredictable and often devastating outcomes.
This was exemplified in June 2023 when the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched a mutiny against Moscow. The rebellion, lasting 48 hours, saw the group take over key Russian military sites in Rostov-on-Don, down six helicopters and an aeroplane – resulting in the death of 13 military personnel – and advance within 125 miles of Moscow.
The militarisation of such groups not only poses a challenge to the delicate power balance between states and their sponsors but also has profound implications for human rights violations, including sexual violence.
Addressing sexual violence in conflict necessitates both a victim-centred approach and an accurate assessment of the changing nature of modern warfare. The UN’s outdated perspective of armed conflict and reluctance to call out its member states exacerbates the prevalence of sexual violence whilst hampering state accountability.
Tragically, justice for the many victims of Russian-perpetuated CRSV in Ukraine may never come. But by acknowledging our shortcomings in protecting Ukrainian victims, we move a step closer to confronting and preventing this grave injustice on the international stage. As a strategic partner and staunch supporter of all forms of Ukrainian security, the UK must be prepared to act bolder within the international community to help better shape policy in defeating the systemic evil of conflict-related sexual violence – and this must start in Ukraine.
Megan Gittoes is the Director of Communications and Policy at the Henry Jackson Society. You can read her new report, ‘A Culture of Impunity: Understanding Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Contemporary Proxy Warfare’, which has been endorsed by Sarah Champion MP, Tobias Ellwood MP, Chris Law MP, and Tim Loughton MP.
Final Thought:
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