“I was afraid and panicked when our houses were attacked,” said Ainura, a pregnant woman from Batken, a region in south-west Kyrgyzstan.

Following violent clashes between Kyrgyz and Tajik armed forces in April 2021, some 50,000 people in the Batken region were forced to abandon their villages and move to temporary camps set up by UNFPA’s partner, the Red Crescent Society in Kyrgyzstan.

“We couldn't take anything with us,” said Ainura. “Our houses were burned down. When we arrived at the camp, we had nothing.”

Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict

19 June 2020

Sexual violence in conflict is a threat to our collective security, a violation of international law and a blight on humanity’s conscience. As a weapon of war, it subjugates women and men and destabilizes entire societies.

SARAJEVO — For many of the uncounted survivors of sexual violence during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the trauma they suffered is compounded to this day by the stigma they still face in their own families and communities.