UN to add Hamas to sexual violence blacklist
However, the organisation has also warned Israel that it risks being placed on the same list
The UN will add Hamas to its list of organisations and states believed to have perpetrated sexual violence during armed conflict – with a UN draft report expected to cite both the 7 October massacre and the treatment of hostages taken by the terrorist group.
An initial copy of the report, sent to UN security council members prior to a conference on sexual violence in conflict to the held next week in New York, named Hamas on the “blacklist” appended to the document, alongside groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda.
The blacklisting comes after the release of new reports on Hamas’s sexual violence, in particular Project Dinah from Bar Ilan university, which sets out in detail a systematic pattern of rape and sexual assault carried out by the terrorist group. Last year, while the UN referred to allegations against Hamas, following a visit to Southern Israel by the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, they did not actually place Hamas on the list.
However, the UN has also warned Israel that it was at risk of being added to the list itself next year, citing claims of sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners at locations including the Sde Teiman military base. In a letter to Israel ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres referred to allegations of the rape of Palestinian male prisoners, and cited steps which Israel needed to take, including creating proper enforcement and disciplinary systems, investigating all credible complaints, and granting the UN monitoring access.
In response, Danon’s office told Times of Israel that the allegations put forward by Gutteres were “unfounded”, “absurd” and based on “biased publications”, and demanded that Israel be removed from any such listing consideration.
In a public statement, Danon focused specifically on the adding of Hamas to the blacklist, describing it as an “important step”, and saying that “the entire world now sees Hamas for what it truly is: a terrorist organization committing the most heinous atrocities against women, men, and children, crimes beyond imagination. These sexual crimes are still being committed today against Israeli hostages in Gaza.
“Israel will continue to fight for justice, expose the truth, and protect its citizens.”
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