Sexual violence is an inconspicuous but powerful and destructive weapon that the occupying forces use against Ukrainians, say the specialists of the Center for Helping the Survivors, a specialized service of the MARTIN club that works with victims.
274 cases of conflict-related sexual violence (SNPK) have been recorded by the Prosecutor General's Office since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
This is far from always rape, but also any other acts of a sexual nature related to war. Hanna Tartynskyi, the coordinator of the Center for Helping the Survivors, says that the SNPK is most often experienced in captivity or under occupation:
"Some criminal acts are not recognized by the person as sexual violence. Forced exposure, intimidation of rape and humiliation and blackmail with a certain sexual context, forced pregnancy or abortion, forcing to contemplate the suffering of another person - all these are sexual violence during conflict."
The Russian occupiers use SNPK as a means of intimidating civilians to achieve certain military goals. They do not seek sexual pleasure, but want to humiliate, torture, subjugate the will. Victims often feel guilty for what happened to them. Although in reality, there was simply no other choice in those circumstances, explains Andriy Baev, a psychologist at the Center for Helping the Survivors:
"The victims of the criminal actions of the Russian military are under no circumstances responsible for their actions. It is almost always a matter of survival. And human life is much more important than social prejudices."
The real number of victims of the SNPK is much higher than the official statistics. These are war crimes, and therefore they have no statute of limitations. You can contact the law enforcement agencies even after a year, two, five or ten years, says Yulia Szegeda, a human rights defender and lawyer at the Center for Helping Survivors:
"You can submit a statement that a person has been injured at any time. Today, people who have survived SNPK can receive not only psychological satisfaction, but also material satisfaction through reparations and intermediate reparations introduced in Ukraine to support victims of SNPK ".
The Center for Helping Survivors in Dnipro guarantees confidentiality. Specialists will help overcome the psychological consequences of violence. And also contact the law enforcement officers and record the fact of the crime - but only if the person himself wants it.
The Center for Helping Survivors in Dnipro is located at 32 Voskresenska Street.
Phone number 0992452121
The Center for Helping Survivors in the Dnipro was created on the initiative of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, with the assistance of the Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, in partnership with UNFPA, the UN Population Fund in Ukraine, thanks to the financial support of the governments of Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, in cooperation with local authorities and the MARTIN-club NGO.
