Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 2476 (2023) “Conflict-related sexual violence”, adopted in January 2023, stated that “Although the majority of victims are women and girls, they are not the only targets, and conflict-related sexual violence is less gender-specific in the case of young children”, while the report itself focused almost entirely on women and girls. Resolution 2480 (2023) “The role and responsibilities of men and boys in stopping gender-based violence against women and girls” pointed out that if not all men are perpetrators of gender-based violence, most perpetrators are men.
These reports looked at men and boys either as perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence or as individuals responsible for preventing and combating it. During the debates, parliamentarians called for further consideration of sexual violence against men and boys, in all their diversity, to which these reports simply alluded, in order to make recommendations on ending the phenomenon.
Sexual violence is inflicted on men and boys in similar contexts to women and girls, but with specificities, in particular in institutional settings – educational institutions, live-in military and police training centres, places of detention, religious communities. Sexual exploitation and abuse is also committed again men and boys by peace-keeping and humanitarian personnel. According to the ICRC in 2020, the prevalence of sexual violence against men and boys in situations of conflict, migration and detention has probably been greatly underestimated. Diversity factors, including sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability and migration backgrounds may increase the risk of sexual violence. Gay men in countries where homosexuality is illegal and subject to imprisonment are at greater risk, both in and out of detention.
The Assembly should raise awareness of sexual violence against men and boys by examining its characteristics and promoting measures to combat it.