Youngest Child Victim of Sexual Violence in the Russian-Occupied Areas is 4 Years Old

Cases of sexual violence against children have been recorded in the occupied territories.

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, as of May 11, 2023, there were cases of sexual violence against 12 girls and one boy. The youngest age of the child victim is four years old.

• This was stated by Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets during a briefing, Gwara Media reported.

Two girls aged 10 and 16 witnessed sexual violence in Kyiv and Kherson regions.

“When we liberate the settlements, our employees and civil society organizations visit them. We receive information from all the territories about war-related sexual violence,” Lubinets added.

He emphasized that this does not show the whole horrific picture of the present. Many victims keep silent and do not file police reports. Therefore, they are waiting for their parents to make a decision to open a criminal investigation, only then the crime is officially recorded and accurate data can be collected.

In addition, in the temporarily occupied territories, there are facts of abduction of children by the Russian military; they use violence against children as pressure on parents to force adults to work for the Russian army or the occupation authorities, the Ombudsman said.

Every day there is information about the forced displacement of Ukrainian children from temporarily occupied territories under various guises. They are sent to “health camps” or to undergo medical examinations.

See also

• Russian shelling affects 3198 educational institutions in Ukraine. Kharkiv region is one of the most damaged in terms of destroyed educational institutions.
• War crimes in Kharkiv Oblast: 37 Russian servicemen notified of suspicion. Crimes committed by the military personnel of the aggressor state and representatives of Russian private military companies must not go unpunished.