The UN’s decision to add Israeli and Russian armed and security forces to its list of parties credibly suspected of conflict-related sexual violence is a grave indictment. It should not be treated as another annual report to be read and denied, especially given that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has taken a more assertive stance this year compared to last, when he initially placed Israel and Russia “on notice.”
The report verifies 9,788 cases of conflict-related sexual violence worldwide in 2025, a more than two-fold increase from last year, and lists 77 parties suspected of responsibility for rape and other forms of sexual violence in war. Such crimes are notoriously underreported because victims fear stigma, retaliation, disbelief and abandonment.
This is why the listing of states, not only militias and non-state actors, is important. Sexual violence in conflict is not always the work of a few undisciplined individuals. It often thrives where command responsibility is evaded, detainees are hidden, monitors are denied access, medical records are withheld, and victims are made afraid to speak. The issue, therefore, is not only the criminal conduct of particular soldiers, guards or interrogators. It is the conduct of state institutions when confronted with credible allegations.
Israel has been listed over verified allegations involving Palestinians, especially detainees from Gaza and the West Bank. The report refers to rape, forced nudity, degrading searches, genital violence and sexual torture in detention and interrogation settings. Israel denies the findings. Its foreign ministry has gone further, saying it will sever all ties with the office of the UN Secretary-General until a new secretary-general is appointed.
Israel’s ambassador says the move places Israel on the same level as Hamas, already listed over allegations linked to the October 2023 attacks and hostages. That argument misses the point, as there must be no selective morality on this question.
Conflict-related sexual violence is often discussed as violence against women, and women and girls remain its principal victims. But the report also underlines the targeting of men and boys, particularly in detention. Sexual torture in custody is used to punish, humiliate, extract information, destroy dignity and terrorise communities.
UN Security Council Resolution 1820 recognised sexual violence as a tactic of war and a threat to international peace and security. That recognition was essential because it moved these crimes out of the private realm of shame and into the public realm of law, command responsibility and war crimes.
The UN list by itself will not deliver justice. It does not automatically impose sanctions. But it creates a record and narrows the space for denial, placing a burden on the international community to move beyond naming towards investigation, prosecution and sanctions where responsibility is established. *