Sexual violence used as weapon of war in South Sudan

Sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war by all the parties of the South Sudan conflict, a United Nations envoy told the Security Council Tuesday, noting a significant increase of perpetrations this year.

Pramila Patten, the UN secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said the UN has witnessed systematic patterns of sexual violence since 2013 when the conflict started in South Sudan, but the phenomenon “escalated dramatically” this year.