The accusations are terrible… 80-year-old women were raped, 4-month-old babies are missing

As the Russian occupation of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, enters its 19th month, there is reportedly evidence that sexual violence against women continues in the occupied areas.

The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine released the report confirming war crimes after evidence-gathering trips to Ukraine. The latest UN report included the following statements: “The Commission found that in the Kherson region, Russian soldiers raped and committed sexual violence against women between the ages of 19 and 83, often committing these crimes alongside threats or other violations. . “Family members are often kept in the next room and are therefore forced to learn about violations that are committed.”

Previously, the press reported about a woman who was raped after Russian soldiers killed her husband. In the detail of the news in Insider; It is alleged that just before the attack, the mother took the 4-year-old boy into the next room, but after the boy screamed, the attackers pointed a gun at the boy’s head and threatened to blow out his mother’s brain.

Protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine are taking place in several countries.

THERE ARE REPORTS OF MASSIVE RAPE

Lesia Vasylenko of the Ukrainian Parliament also said early last year: “We have reports of women who have been gang raped. These women are usually the ones who can’t go out. She expressed the brutality by saying, “We’re talking about old people.”

After Vasylenko’s statements, as reports of sexual violence committed by Russian troops and encouraged by commanders increased, international investigations into the incidents were launched. Major protests against atrocities against civilians in occupied areas, including Kherson and Bucha, took place in Britain and Poland.

Although victims of sexual violence are mostly women, gender is not taken into account when selecting victims.

“When women are held for days and raped, when children and men are raped, when you see an avalanche of female genital mutilations, when you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, this is clearly a military strategy “said Pramila. Patten, UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict,” said.

RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies rape and sexual violence, including sexual slavery, forced prostitution and sterilization, as a form of war crime and crime against humanity.

A 2014 UN report on sexual violence during war says: “Rapes committed during war are often aimed at terrorizing populations, tearing apart families, destroying communities and, in some cases, changing the ethnic composition of the population.” Next Generation”.

The International Criminal Court has launched an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine, but legal action does not appear possible for many years.

MISSING CHILDREN

Another striking topic in the report published by the United Nations Ukraine Commission of Inquiry was children.

Ukrainian children as young as 4 months old are reportedly being forcibly taken to Russia. And authorities have no information about what happened to these children.

The commission found a lack of information such as the exact number of children kidnapped so far and their current whereabouts.

While Kremlin officials claimed to have rescued the children, international observers called the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children (including babies under four months old) a war crime.

THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM IS PLAYED, SPEECHES IN UKRAINIAN ARE PROHIBITED

According to an estimate from the Yale School of Public Health; The number of Ukrainian children displaced or deported since the start of the war runs into the hundreds of thousands. At least 6,000 of these children are held in a series of Russian camps, where they are treated and re-educated to make their personal and political views more pro-Russian.

According to the Yale report, it is believed that the number of kidnapped children may be high because Russian forces are targeting vulnerable spots such as orphanages in Ukraine. The report also noted that Russia operates at least 43 known facilities dedicated to providing re-education, military training and pro-Russian academic education to Ukrainian children forcibly removed from their homes.

Children rescued from these camps say they were forbidden to speak Ukrainian, forced to listen to the Russian national anthem, and told their parents had abandoned them.

IT WAS CALLED “GENOCIDE” AND ARREST WARRANT WAS ISSUED AGAINST PUTIN

Previously, news had appeared in the world press that some children kidnapped by Russian forces against their will were put up for adoption in Russia.

In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin “for the illegal deportation of children and the illegal transfer of children from the occupied regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

According to Politico, Russia, which does not recognize the court, considered this measure meaningless.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies the forcible transfer of children from one nation or ethnic group to another as genocide.