ROME – Days after the United Nations called for an independent inquiry into allegations of rape in liberated Ukrainian cities, the leader of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church condemned the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
In his April 13 video message, released on the 49th day of the war in Ukraine following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church condemned attacks on civilian areas and lamented that his country is being polluted with explosive materials.
He also offered a brief reflection on Christian theological understanding of love and sexuality as it is expressed in the sixth of the Ten Commandments, which is “you shall not commit adultery.”
“It is through our sexuality, which marks our body, our psyche, our spiritual life, that the Lord God calls us to come out of loneliness to meet another person,” he said, adding, “God has given us sexuality in order to love, and from there to go in love to the fullness of life and in the love of a blessed marriage, to give new life to future generations.”
Yet during times of war, he said, human sexuality “is not used for love,” but is often turned into a weapon for “humiliating” other people and “as an instrument of violence.”
“We are now exposing horrific crimes, sexual violence as a weapon against civilians, innocent people,” he said, noting that hundreds of allegations have been made of the rape of men, women, and even young children.
On Monday Sima Bahous, Executive Director for UN Women – a United Nations entity dedicated to advancing gender equity and the empowerment of women – demanded an independent investigation into rape and sexual violence allegations in Ukraine be launched.
In the past two weeks, numerous reports have emerged of potential instances of rape and sexual violence against Ukrainian citizens committed by Russian troops who occupied Ukrainian cities and villages, including Bucha and a slew of others.
During an address at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) in New York City Monday, Bahous said “We are increasingly hearing of rape and sexual violence.”
“These allegations must be independently investigated to ensure justice and accountability,” she said, adding, “The combination of mass displacement with the large presence of conscripts and mercenaries, and the brutality displayed against Ukrainian civilians, has raised all red flags.”
Bahous was speaking following a trip to Moldova, where she visited temporary shelters for fleeing Ukrainian refugees and witnessed the humanitarian response to the war and resulting refugee crisis.
Kateryna Cherepakha, president of the La Strada organization dedicated to fighting gender-based violence, told the U.N. council via video call that “rape is used as a weapon of war by Russian invaders in Ukraine,” and that several witnesses had spoken to her of Russian officers carrying out rapes in front of children and family members.
Russia has denied the allegations; however, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of the issue Tuesday during a speech to members of Lithuanian parliament, saying they have emerged as part of ongoing investigations into allegations of war crimes committed by Russia.
“Almost every day we find new mass graves,” he said, and “Hundreds of cases of rape have been recorded, including those of young girls and very young children. Even of a baby!”
“This is what the Russian military is like. The ‘defender’ of children…Russian propagandists have apparently already begun to justify this. Apparently, they will say, as always, that this didn’t happen, and if it happened, it was for the protection of ‘Russian-speaking people.’ And they will still be responsible for this crime – as well as every other such crime – as will the propagandists,” he said.
Zelenskyy also raised the issue during an April 5 speech to the United Nations Security Council, the day after visiting Bucha – where mass graves were discovered, and images emerged of civilian bodies strewn in the streets.
On that occasion, he said that “Women were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because the aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them.”
“This is not different from other terrorists such as ISIS. And here it is done by a member of the United Nations Security Council,” Zelenskyy said.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken also touched on the issue of sexual violence by Russian troops April 5, saying the images from Bucha were evidence not of a “random act of a rogue unit,” but a “deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities.”
In his video, Shevchuk said that in the fact of such violence, “We ask ourselves, ‘God, how can we remain human in the midst of that hell?’ And we understand that only by the power of God are we able to prevent the distortion of our human way of communicating and living.”
Shevchuk closed his video asking God to protect Ukrainian citizens and marriages, and asked for a special blessing for couples who, despite the war, continue to live their marriages in love and for those who are “not afraid to have new children.”
He asked that God “rescue all those who turn the gift of your sexuality into an instrument of war and sexual violence” and prayed that Ukraine would be saved “from hatred, sin, from hatred against those who despise us.”
Follow Elise Ann Allen on Twitter: @eliseannallen
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