UN Special Envoy Pramila Patten Joins President, First Lady Herzog To Address October 7 Sexual Violence
President Isaac Herzog and first lady Michal Herzog welcomed the UN undersecretary-general and special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, to Jerusalem on Monday to initiate the envoy’s weeklong visit to the country.
Patten, accompanied by her team of legal and medical experts, arrived in Israel to conduct a fact-finding mission investigating reports of mass rape and sexual violence during the October 7 attack.
After a private meeting among the three, first lady Herzog thanked the UN envoy, stating: “As a woman to a woman, I want to thank you very much for coming to Israel with an open heart and an open mind to listen, to see, and to help the survivors.”
Since the initial reports of widespread gender-based violence on October 7, Israel’s first lady has spearheaded a public campaign, criticizing international institutions and women’s rights groups for their lack of support for the victims. She discussed her efforts in an interview with The Media Line.
In a video statement, Patten pledges her solidarity with the people of Israel and the victims of October 7. Speaking to the camera, she refers to sexual violence as “one of the most heinous crimes” that is “used as a tactic of terrorism, as a tactic of war, is intended to destabilize, to instill fear, to humiliate, to dehumanize not only the victims but also the families, the societies, the nation, or the perceived enemy.”
Patten urges survivors to come forward and meet with her team, as silence will only allow those who perpetrated the violence to escape justice.
“My team and I are here to listen to you in all safety and confidentiality. I’m here for a week, prepared to meet you in a safe and enabling environment and to listen to your stories; the world needs to know what really happened on [October 7],” she adds, assuring survivors that they are owed more than solidarity but justice as well.
