U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, along with 30 Senate colleagues, has addressed a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, criticizing the UN’s response to acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas against women in Israel on October 7, 2023. The senators have called for an independent investigation into these incidents and demanded accountability from the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
The letter is a bipartisan effort that includes Senators Jim Risch, Mike Crapo, Jacky Rosen, Joni Ernst, Kirsten Gillibrand, Susan Collins, Ben Cardin, Shelley Moore Capito, Kyrsten Sinema, Katie Britt, Tammy Duckworth, Richard Blumenthal, Lisa Murkowski, Cory Booker, Deb Fischer, Bob Casey, John Fetterman, Chuck Grassley, Bill Cassidy, Joe Manchin, James Lankford, Ron Wyden, Rick Scott, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott Jerry Moran Bill Hagerty Roger Wicker and Marsha Blackburn.
In their letter to Guterres they expressed disappointment over the UN’s handling of the situation. “We write to express our profound disappointment with the United Nations’ (UN) response to Hamas’s widespread sexual violence,” stated the senators. They emphasized that evidence from survivors and witnesses indicates that rape and sexual assault were used as weapons during Hamas’s attack which resulted in the deaths of 1 200 individuals.
The senators also highlighted their concern about the delayed response from UN Women stating “Sexual violence particularly on this scale and of this level of brutality must be condemned unequivocally.” They urged for a swift establishment of an independent fact-finding mission tasked with collecting testimonies from survivors and witnesses asserting that such an investigation is crucial for accountability support justice for victims.
