Dhaka: A senior UN official on Thursday warned of sexual violence is being committed ‘in a widespread and systematic manner’ in conflicts-stricken Syria and Iraq, and that women and girls are most vulnerable in the violence.

The special representative of the UN secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Bangura, issued the warning when she was briefing reporters here on her ‘scoping mission’ to the Middle East in April.

Sexual violence is being committed strategically, in a widespread and systematic manner, and with a high-degree of sophistication by most parties to the conflict in Syria and Iraq, she said.

‘Women and girls are at risk and under assault at every point of their lives,’ Bangura said, emphasizing that the threat of brutality followed them ‘every step of the way ... in the midst of active conflict, in areas under control of armed actors, at check- points and border crossings, and in detention facilities.’

Bangura's 16-29 April trip took her to Syria and Iraq, as well as to neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, where she met directly with women who escaped the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) captivity and survived sexual violence.

At the press conference, she cited instances of forced, temporary and early marriage and described how such practices were encouraged for fighters as part of Jihad and used as a ‘protection ‘ mechanism for families with no other means of providing for or ensuring safety of young girls. She also noted the sale of women for sex.

‘Girls are literally being stripped naked and examined in slave bazaars,’ she said, describing how they were ‘categorised and shipped naked off to Dohuk or Mosul or other locations to be distributed among ISIL leadership and fighters.’

Meanwhile, she also listed examples of the horrors suffered by women, including one who had been temporarily married more than 20 times, after each occasion forced to undergo surgery to repair her virginity.

‘ISIL have institutionalised sexual violence and the brutalisation of women as a central aspect of their ideology and operations, using it as a tactic of terrorism to advance their key strategic objectives,’ she said, describing how women were promised to fighters and how ISIL raised funds through trafficking, prostitution and ransoms.

Sexual violence was used to displace populations, to punish, humiliate and demoralize dissenters, to extract information for intelligence purposes and to dismantle social, familial and community structures in order to construct a new ‘Caliphate.’

The special representative said she had requested that the UN Security Council integrate protection and empowerment of women into its counter-terrorism response and she stated concerns about children born of rape, as they were unable to be registered. That risked creating ‘a generation of stateless children’ who could provide fertile ground for future extremism.

Over the past years, the UN Security Council demanded accountability of sexual violence in conflict in order to bring perpetrators to justice.