UN blacklists Israel and Russia over conflict sexual violence

The United Nations released its 2025 annual report on conflict-related sexual violence, placing Israeli and Russian security forces on its blacklist for the first time, a move that immediately ignited fierce diplomatic protests from both governments and drew sharp criticism from Washington.

The 35-page document blacklists 77 government and non-governmental parties across a dozen countries suspected of committing or bearing responsibility for sexual violence in active conflict zones. The number of globally documented cases rose sharply in 2025 compared to the previous year, reaching nearly 9,788 verified incidents worldwide, a figure UN officials say represents only a fraction of actual violations, given the profound difficulties in accessing conflict-affected areas.

A catalogue of documented violations

The report documented what it described as "patterns of sexual violence" against Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities and in the occupied Palestinian territories throughout 2025. It further verified incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, including acts constituting torture, inflicted against fourteen men, seven women, nine boys, and one girl from the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Thirteen of those incidents occurred in 2025, with a further 18 dating back to 2023 and 2024.

The documented violations were sweeping in their severity. According to the report, they included rape with objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence targeting the genital area, targeted shooting at genitals, forced nudity, and cavity searches conducted "without apparent security justification." The UN attributed responsibility for these acts to members of the Israeli armed forces, security services, and prison authorities. Nine victims, the majority Palestinians from Gaza, suffered rape or gang rape, in some cases repeatedly.

This marks the first time Israel has been included on the list since the reporting mechanism was established more than fifteen years ago. Both Israel and Russia had been explicitly put "on notice for potential listing" in the prior year's report by Secretary-General António Guterres, who cited significant and consistently documented concerns about patterns of sexual violence by both countries' forces.

Israel: 'Shameful and absurd'

The reaction from Israeli officials was immediate and incendiary. Israel's Foreign Ministry described its inclusion as "shameful and absurd," accusing Guterres of placing the country in the company of Hamas, ISIS, and what Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon called "the most depraved terrorist organizations in the world." Hamas, which carried out the October 7, 2023 attacks that triggered the war in Gaza, was already blacklisted in previous editions of the same report.

"We are done with this UN Secretary-General," Danon declared on social media. In protest, Israel announced it would suspend all official communications with Guterres for as long as he remains in office, a term that expires December 31 of this year. Israeli officials insisted they had submitted extensive documentation, data, and detailed responses to the allegations, and invited UN representatives to visit Israel to investigate what they called "ridiculous" claims.

Guterres' spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric sought to defuse the standoff, characterizing Israel's move as "more symbolic than anything" and stating that the UN would "continue to work with the Israeli mission." US Ambassador Mike Waltz sided with Israel, condemning the report for placing the country "on the same level as terrorist organizations like Hamas and ISIS, which deliberately target civilians for sexual violence as a weapon of terror."

Russia dismisses findings as fabrication

Russia, too, reacted with indignation. UN authorities verified 310 cases of Russian-perpetrated sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilian detainees in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine since 2022. Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the findings as fabrications, announcing that Moscow would prepare its own counter-report documenting alleged Ukrainian mistreatment of Russian prisoners of war. "We will write a letter to the secretary-general saying these are unsubstantiated lies," he said.

Conflict, justice, and international pressure

The dual listing has intensified scrutiny of the UN's accountability mechanisms. While the blacklist carries no direct legal enforcement power, human rights advocates argue it plays a critical role in establishing the historical record, applying political pressure on governments, and laying groundwork for potential future prosecutions before international tribunals.

The report follows a documentation effort that intensified in mid-2024, after the UN cited "credible information" about sexual violence committed by Israeli security forces against Palestinian detainees, at a time when UN inspectors were being denied access to detention facilities. The inclusion of both Israel and Russia in the final report underscores what UN officials describe as a broader global deterioration in the protection of detainees and civilian populations caught in active conflicts.