UN Day for Elimination of Sexual Violence

The Coronavirus pandemic is impacting dramatically the lives of victims and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), as well as all aspects of the work carried out by the Offices of the SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict and SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict, and the United Nations as a whole.

Already a dramatically under-reported crime, CRSV has been further obscured by this pandemic. COVID-19 hampers the possibility of survivors to report sexual violence and further exacerbates the existing structural, institutional and sociocultural barriers to reporting such crimes. On 23 March, the Secretary-General issued a global call for a ceasefire in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that such a global ceasefire would “bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.”