A shocking image. This Friday, a half-naked woman burst onto the red carpet at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Her chest was painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag with the words in English “stop raping us” and she was dressed in blood red panties. The security services quickly put her aside.
The action was claimed by the SCUM, a movement of feminist and radical activists, indicate our colleagues from France 3 Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur. Contacted by the latter, the demonstrator explained that this action was aimed at “denouncing war rape, war pimping”. “We talk about rape, GPA, we are used as belly on legs… We think that nobody talks about women. Everyone needs to know,” she continued.
“Hundreds of rape cases” in Ukraine
The European Parliament condemned at the beginning of May the use of sexual violence as a “weapon of war” in Ukraine, invaded by Russia, and called on the countries which welcome women fleeing this country to give them access to gynecological care, contraception and to abortion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced in mid-April “hundreds of cases of rape” observed in areas previously occupied by the Russian army, “including underage girls and very small children”. Testimonies reported by the media corroborated from mid-April the fears of NGOs which reveal indications of the use of rape as a “weapon of war”.