Pramila Patten, the UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, opened the commemoration by emphasizing the urgency of addressing the root causes of war [GETTY/file photo]
Testimonies from Palestinian survivors of sexual abuse at Israeli prisons were played out at the United Nations on Wednesday at an event to mark the 15th anniversary of the mandate on sexual violence in conflict.
Global leaders and advocates came together to call for greater efforts to combat the use of rape as a weapon of war at the event hosted by the UN and several member states in New York to mark the 15th anniversary of the establishment of a mandate on sexual violence and conflict in 2009 through a UN Security Council resolution.
Pramila Patten, the UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict said that the litany of current conflicts means more people are facing sexual violence.
Patten visited Israel and the occupied West Bank earlier this year to investigate claims of sexual assault during Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel and accusations of abuse of Palestinian men and women by Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank.
At the event on Wednesday, delegates heard a horrific account of sexual assault and beating by Israeli prison guards against Palestinian detainees, the UN State of Palestine X account posted on Thursday.
The testimony, which was read aloud in English, told how the detainee was stripped naked by two guards and pushed onto other naked prisoners “lying on top of each other with blood flowing from them and into the ground”.
“Some of them were crying and screaming,” the testimony read.
The soldiers forced an object into the individual’s anus and filmed the incident on phones, according to the testimony.
“While I was crying and screaming from the horror,” it added.
The account is one of several reports detailing horrific abuse and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners at the hands of Israeli forces. Since the outbreak of war in Gaza, hundreds of men from the territory have been detained and taken to Israeli military camps. The UN has condemned Israel’s use of “incommunicado detention” when Palestinians are effectively disappeared and unable to contact lawyers or family members.
The UN event also heard testimony from an Israeli woman who was held hostage in Gaza for 55 days at the start of the war following the 7 October attacks, who said she suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her captors.
Attendees included former US secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said that “pursuing peace must be our highest priority” to tackle wartime sexual violence.
Last year over 170 conflicts were recorded while global military expenditure passed a record of $2.2 trillion, Patten said.
UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed said that across the world, people are still facing violence.
“From Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to Myanmar, from Colombia to the Democratic Republic of Congo, survivors face not just isolation, but often complete social and economic destitution,” Mohammed said.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, Palestinian rights groups, as well as the UN, have recorded multiple cases of abuse by Israeli authorities in prisons.
Israel’s notorious Sde Teiman detention centre has been repeatedly highlighted by Israeli and Palestinian rights groups for its widespread use of torture, and the alarming conditions Palestinians are being kept in.
In August, a leaked video shared in the Israeli press from Sde Teiman purportedly showed Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian man. After several soldiers were arrested over the incident, Israeli political and religious figures attempted to defend the use of sexual assault against Palestinians.
An investigation by US media outlet CNN found that men were being put in stress positions, having limbs amputated and forced to wear diapers.
Since 7 October 2023, at least 36 Palestinians have died in the facility from causes related to denial of vital medical attention and abuse, according to Palestinian rights groups.
For months, Palestinian authorities have been calling on the international community to intervene over the reports of ill-treatment, including several released detainees who have left custody looking emaciated.
