This is often due to lack of funding and personnel trained to respond to their specific needs. Syrian survivors of sexual violence who fled to Lebanon told Human Rights Watch they found limited services and inadequate support from humanitarian organizations. Men and boys, transgender women, and non-binary survivors of sexual violence told Human Rights Watch that they did not seek any medical or mental health services in Syria for a range of reasons, including shame, fear of stigma, and a lack of trust in the health care system. Due to the sexual violence they have been subjected to, survivors may also suffer from physical traumas, including severe pain in their rectum and genitals, rectal bleeding, and muscle pain, and may have sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. This report also finds that survivors of sexual violence may suffer from various psychological traumas such as depression, post-traumatic stress, sexual trauma, loss of hope and paranoid thoughts. This violence has taken place in various settings, including Syrian detention centers, checkpoints, central prisons, and within the ranks of the Syrian army. The sexual violence described included rape, sexual harassment, genital violence (beating, electric shock and burning of genitals), threat of rape of themselves or female family members, and forced nudity by state and non-state armed groups. According to interviewees, gay and bisexual men and transgender women are subject to increased and intensified violence based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The report finds that men and boys, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, are vulnerable to sexual violence in the context of the Syrian conflict. While many of the men and boys and transgender women interviewed have also experienced sexual violence in Lebanon, those incidents lie outside the purview of this report. We also conducted interviews with 20 caseworkers and representatives of humanitarian organizations operating in Lebanon. The survivors all described their experience of sexual violence in Syria. This report is based on interviews Human Rights Watch conducted in Lebanon with 40 gay and bisexual men and transgender women-some of whom were perceived by perpetrators to be gay men-and non-binary individuals, as well as 4 heterosexual men. Limited data and underreporting-in part fueled by stigma around male vulnerability and reluctance to talk about experiences of sexual violence or seek help for its long-term physical and psychological impact-have contributed to male survivors not receiving adequate attention and help.
However, existing services within gender-based violence (GBV) and child protection are focused almost exclusively on responding to the needs of women and girls and very little attention is paid to the needs of men and boys. While women and girls are disproportionately targeted by conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), men and boys are also impacted. Heterosexual men and boys are vulnerable to sexual violence in Syria, but men who are gay or bisexual-or perceived to be-and transgender women are particularly at risk. Since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, men and boys and transgender women have been subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence by the Syrian government and non-state armed groups, including the extremist armed group Islamic State (also known as ISIS). Male survivor of conflict-related sexual violence in Syria, February 2019 We have been here in Lebanon because they not only raped us, they also raped our land and dignity.