The report about gender-based-violence published by the East Ukrainian Centre for Civic Initiatives in the framework of the “Coalition Justice for Peace in Donbas” in late 2017 deals with a broad range of issues. In times of armed conflict, many crimes are committed that are hard to voice publically. This report is able to draw a comprehensive picture of sexual and gender based violence based on the testimonies of victims and witnesses from both sides of the contact line in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The report also points towards possible solutions.

The report, on which a group of authors has worked for more than a year is entitled “War without rules”. For the sake of objectivity, people who became victims of both belligerent parties were interviewed. Human rights violations were committed by the armed separatist groups as well as by Ukrainian forces. People of different age and gender became victims of sexual violence be it direct physical violence or on a psychological level.

Cases from the self-proclaimed People’s Republics

The so called People’s Republics centred around Donetsk and Luhansk are unrecognized by the international community. This does not mean that the civilian population that remains in their territory lives in a lawless space. The laws and norms that the separatist government claims to hold up correspond to the laws in the Russian Federation. They specify prison sentences of up to 25 years for rape. For violations against sexual integrity, the laws of the “People’s Republics” specify prison sentences almost twice as long as the Ukrainian law. At the same time, the laws of “DNR” and “LNR” punish domestic violence with sentences of just up to 15 days imprisonment. It is worth noting that “domestic violence”, according to the laws in the unrecognized republics, includes physical violence but also threats, insults, stalking, as well as deprivation of shelter, clothing, food and other needs guaranteed by the law.

During the armed conflict, women became especially vulnerable to violence. But the documented cases also testify about a significant number of cases of gender-based violence directed against men. In many cases men were forced to strip naked. This too is a form of gender based violence. More severe cases included rape and attempted castration.

Sexual violence committed by Ukrainian armed formations

The report also documents cases of illegal detention and violence committed by Ukrainian soldiers. These forms of violence were used as punishment for what the perpetrators perceived as separatist views or ideologies hostile to Ukraine. In the course of such punishment, there were also cases of forced unclothing, threats of rape and other forms of sexual violence. The court proceedings about one of these cases was actively followed by the media. However, the use of sexual violence by Ukrainian forces did not have systematic character.

Places of detention

People who addressed the “Coalition Justice for peace in Donbas” with their testimonies time and time again pointed to the importance of the places where these crimes occurred. When a sufficiently large volume of material was collected, human rights defenders began to see a pattern. Places of illegal detention form a deadly web on the territories of the occupied territories. Among these places are schools, kindergartens, administrative buildings, hospitals, cinemas, TV studios, even a building of the Donetsk Christian University became an illegal place of detention, where sexual crimes were committed. In most of these building, people were held in basements.

How to get help

Everyone, who had to fear for their safety, has a right to be heard. Under the conditions of an escalating armed conflict, human rights defense groups began to work more actively as have government organs and international organizations. The civilian population is first and foremost protected by the Geneva Convention of 1949 and its additional protocols.

But where to turn to for help? Firstly the institutions that should provide help are state structures on the municipal level, police and social security organs, child protection and family welfare services. If you have suffered from a crime, the prosecutor’s office is responsible to investigate the case.

Currently, gender-based violence is in the focus of several human rights defense groups. If you have become a victim, here you can find out more about how to get assistance from the Coalition Justice for Peace in Donbas