Breaking the Silence on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Against Men and Boys
According to the United Nations, conflict-related sexual violence against men and boys remains heavily underdocumented and severely underreported across global combat zones, with estimates suggesting that 90 to 95 per cent of such cases in conflict settings are never officially recorded.
The Hidden Reality of Wartime Sexual Violence in Detention Facilities
When a Ukrainian prisoner of war was released in 2025 following three years in captivity, he returned with documented accounts of rape, forced nudity, beatings, and electric shocks directed at his genitals, according to reporting detailed by GlobalSecurity.org. This individual’s account mirrors a broader, systemic pattern tracked by the United Nations across active hostilities.
While women and girls continue to bear the overwhelming burden of conflict-related sexual violence—making up 93 per cent of verified victims in 2024 compared to seven per cent who were men and boys, as outlined in reports covered by DirectSpeech.news—the low official percentage for males masks a pervasive hidden crisis. In Ukraine alone, the United Nations verified 310 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, 280 of those involving men. Many were prisoners of war or civilian detainees.
Institutional and Cultural Barriers to Identification
Abuses in detention environments are frequently utilized to punish, humiliate, and extract forced confessions. However, systemic barriers routinely obscure the true scope of these crimes.
Research by the UN Institute for Disarmament Research points to social expectations around masculinity, homophobia, and fear of being perceived as weak as primary drivers keeping male survivors silent. Furthermore, how survivors describe their trauma creates additional hurdles for humanitarian organizations. The United Nations Secretary-General’s 2026 report notes that men and boys may describe sexual violence as torture, particularly following detention, which can complicate the classification and specialized tracking required by humanitarian and justice systems.
The UN has documented male survivors in several other conflicts, including Gaza and the West Bank, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Haiti.
Global Documentation and the Need for Specialized Support Services
Because restricted access, insecurity and fear of retaliation prevent many survivors from coming forward, verified totals are conservative estimates.
Recognizing these survivors is critical as a gateway to specialized medical treatment, psychological counseling, and legal assistance. To bridge these service gaps, institutional frameworks must adapt. During 2025, the UNited Action to Empower Survivors initiative aided 160 victims, including 69 males, making use of tailored assistance, rehabilitation, and psychological counseling. It also helped establish male survivor networks offering peer support and advocacy.
Research indicates that male populations often lack official recognition as vulnerable or protected categories during wartime, contributing to the persistent lack of documentation.
As international bodies push for improved data collection methodologies that explicitly allow men and boys to disclose sexual abuse, humanitarian networks emphasize that dismantling the silence requires continuous institutional commitment, specialized frontline training, and accessible survivor-centred services.