What Pramila Patten’s UN report on Oct 7 sexual violence actually said
Her office serves as a political advocate, not an independent investigator
The following is a analysis I wrote to help people wade through the UN Report:
Petition > UN Report: Sexual Violence on Oct 7
Summary:
Much of the information in the report appears to be a recycling of NYTimes information that was previously debunked, but now misleadingly appears to have the imprimatur of a UN Investigation.
Advocacy: Not an Investigation:
On the UN office’s webpage, it says: “The Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict exists to ‘gather information’ and engage in ‘advocacy1.’”2
Many people will be fooled into thinking that Pramila Patten's Sexual Violence UN report was an investigation. The US and Israel are touting her report as though it breathes new life into the New York Times’ discredited claims. This is not true, and notably, in the account of kibbutz Be’eri, it finds the allegations regarding the Sharabi sisters unfounded.3
Israel Won’t Cooperate
There is an official investigation underway, but Israel isn't cooperating with it. The Health Ministry even forbade doctors from cooperating with the real investigation4 because Israel alleges bias. I can’t directly observe the US and Israel’s motivations, but their use of this report appears to exploit the public’s ignorance about the difference between a “political advocate” who “gathers information” and an independent investigation.
Findings
The report appears to have used some of the same discredited sources as the New York Times, but they do not provide citations allowing you to see where they got their “evidence” .. or rather “information.”
They did not interview any rape survivors or see any photographic evidence of rape. In some cases rape was suspected based upon (anonymous) reports based upon allegations of the positioning of the dead bodies. I haven’t cross referenced these claims with the New York Times accounts, but I suspect they originate from ZAKA. If you have more information, respond in the comments.5
There are, however, a few previously discredited claims that the report dismissed.
Journalist Richard Sanders says that the reports of undressed women with bound hands doesn’t appear in any of the documentation he has seen and he is surprised that out of thousands of survivors, only two alleged witnesses have come forward alleging rape, if rape was widespread:6
“Information Gathering” that uses Legal terminology
The report uses terminology from legal investigations:
“reasonable grounds”,
“clear and convincing”
“beyond a reasonable doubt”
But their assessment should not be compared to a legal investigation because the SRSG-SVC7 does not have the ability to investigate. I would be happy for someone with more expertise to differentiate between their role in “gathering evidence” and “investigating.” I assume8 an investigation would involve subpoenaing documentation and witnesses, rather than collecting information from the party that invited them (Israel). The report also mentions that the mission didn’t fully pursue claims because it was pressed for time.9
Previously Debunked?
The biggest problem with the report is that it appears to use the same witnesses the New York Times used, many of which previously made debunked claims such as beheaded babies. Are the witnesses’ past statements examined to see if their stories have changed? If the witnesses have these credibility issues how would Pramila Pattten’s office know this?
The other big problem with the report is that the claims are described so vaguely and there aren’t citations that would allow readers to cross reference with the research that was done in assessing the Times’s stories.
Summary:
Here’s the Mondoweiss article’s conclusion:
Despite the fact that Patten’s report does not find any credible information supporting a pattern of rape on October 7, that it has no investigative powers, and that it sustains glaring gaps in credibility that it cannot address within its mandate10, Western media have been following the lead of the Israeli government in framing the report as a vindication of Israel’s narrative that Hamas committed systematic sexual violence on October 7.
At the same time, these media groups are ignoring Israel’s blanket refusal to cooperate with the official UN investigation into said claims. We must see Patten’s report for what it is: an attempt to give a veneer of legitimacy to claims that have been roundly debunked by recycling anonymous witness testimony under cover of “UN methodology” — but without the investigative mandate required to legitimize that methodology. Patten’s report explicitly does not find a pattern of sexual violence, gives no indication of its prevalence, and does not name any possible perpetrators. This does not appear to trouble Patten, who continuously reiterates that she is acting in her role as an advocate for victims of conflict-related sexual violence, and not as an investigator.
But an advocate for whom? Ultimately, one of the biggest problems with this report is that it serves as a distraction ..
ELSEWHERE:
CBC mistates headline:
UN finds 'convincing information' [reasonable suspicion] backing reports Hamas and other militants raped women on Oct. 7.
“Reasonable Suspicion“ likely based on reports of half naked women (from whom? ZAKA?). This claim is contradicted by Journalist Richard Sanders (above)
“Convincing Information” — The CBC likely is making reference to a claim of sexual assault made by a hostage, not on October 7.
Norman Finkelstein Interview:
The Patten report is only supposed to be preliminary, reaching only “reasonable grounds to believe,” not alleging “clear and convincing evidence.” This blurring of the group’s mandate between a preliminary report and an investigation has parallels to a political report on the humanitarian convoy in May 2010 that Israel attacked, in which the Secretary General appointed a political commission in order to show “balance.”
After analyzing Israel’s best case, including 5,000 photographs and 50 hours of footage, they could not find with a single image or frame of sexual violence, in an area that abutted Israel and was one of the most heavily surveilled locations in Israel.
They could not find a single scrap of medical-legal (forensic) evidence
None of the victims would step forward, not because they were all dead, but it is claimed:
People in that area have now been too widely dispersed throughout Israel
They don’t trust the UN commission
They were too traumatized
Israel knows that allegations of “rape” are their most potent weapon to galvanize public support, used every time they have a PR-crisis and need to rally support.
Footnotes
Office of Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Conflict, United Nations
The Special Representative serves as the United Nations’ spokesperson and political advocate on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). She chairs the United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action) and her work is supported by the United Nations Team of Experts on the Rule of Law/Sexual Violence in Conflict (TOE).
Here’s what Pramila Patten’s UN report on Oct 7 sexual violence actually said, Mondoweiss, March 11, 2024.
I infer their identity. The report doesn’t identify the 13 and 16-year old sisters by name or age.
Israel forbids doctors from speaking to UN group investigating Oct. 7 atrocities, The Times of Israel, January 16, 2024
The Health Ministry on Monday instructed members of the healthcare system not to cooperate with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, citing its perceived anti-Israel stance.
In recent weeks, senior physicians and hospital staff who treated October 7 victims and released hostages have received letters and emails from the commission, which operates under the UN Council for Human Rights. The commission requested information and interviews for its investigation of international and gender-based crimes since the beginning of the current Israel-Hamas war.
The findings of the commission’s investigations will be presented in its reports to the Human Rights Council in June and to the UN General Assembly in October.
13. At the Nova music festival and its surroundings, there are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of sexual violence took place with victims being subjected to rape and/or gang rape and then killed or killed while being raped. Credible sources described finding 4 murdered individuals, mostly women, whose bodies were naked from their waist down – and some totally naked – tied with their hands behind their backs, many of whom were shot in the head. On Road 232, credible information based on witness accounts describe an incident of the rape of two women by armed elements. Other reported instances of rape could not be verified in the time allotted. The mission team also found a pattern of bound naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down, in some cases tied to structures including trees and poles, along Road 232. In kibbutz Re’im, the mission team further verified an incident of the rape of a woman outside of a bomb shelter and heard of other allegations of rape that could not yet be verified.
If I’m cross-referencing correctly from the New York Times, the two witnesses are Raz Cohen and “Sapir.” Cohen didn’t report rape in his original interview but much later claims to have witnessed it, despite the fact that none of the other people who were hiding nearby on Oct 7 have confirmed it. Sapir describes an outrageous scene that “Police say they are still gathering evidence (DNA, etc) from rape victims .. “but they have, to date,, been unable to provide it.” It is one thing to say that first reponders were too busy to collect evidence, but another to imply that Police were in to process of gathering evidence and its still outstanding.
The Times report states they interviewed Sapir for two hours at a cafe in southern Israel, and she described witnessing multiple rapes, including an incident where one attacker rapes a woman as another cuts off her breast with a box cutter.
“Police say they are still gathering evidence (DNA etc) from rape victims in addition to eyewitnesses to build the strongest case possible,” said a correspondent who covered the press event. Such a scene would produce significant amounts of physical evidence, yet Israeli officials have, to date, been unable to provide it.
Between the Hammar and the Anvil, The Intercept, Feb 24, 2024
SRSG-SVC: Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflitct
If you have more information about the difference between what the SRSG-SVC does and what an investigator would do, write it in the comments.
Assessments could not be done due to time-restraints. Sections 13, 19, 31, 32, 60, 61
By “mandate”, I assume this means without the ability to act as an independent investigator.