The number of reported cases of sexual violence committed by armed extremist groups such as Boko Haram, al-Shabab and the Islamic State have increased significantly since mid-2014, according to a United Nations report released in April. The U.N. report reviewed the current situation in nineteen countries burdened by armed conflict, including Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Libya, and Yemen. The report also profiles 45 groups that have committed systematic sexual violence against women and girls. Commenting on the report, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said, “[t]he confluence of crises wrought by violent extremism has revealed a shocking trend of sexual violence employed as a tactic of terror by radical groups.”
Compiled from: Lederer, Edith, UN report: 2014 saw extremist use of rape, sexual slavery, Stars and Stripes (April 14, 2015); The Associated Press, Sexual Violence Used as a war tactic: U.N. report, Al Aribya (April 14, 2015).