Over half a billion women and girls live in conflict zones where their bodies are actively used as targets.

Omissions

• The underlying statistic measures women and girls living 'within 50 kilometres of a deadly conflict event' (UN Women/PRIO ACLED-based data), a proxy that is broader than strictly 'living in conflict zones'.
• The actual magnitude is higher than the stated floor: 676 million women and girls in 2024 (UN Women), and 'over 600 million' in 2023 (UN website) — so the claim understates rather than overstates the figure.
• The figure covers proximity to conflict, not necessarily direct exposure to sexual violence; the statement that bodies are 'actively used as targets' is a rhetorical characterisation of well-documented conflict-related sexual violence, not a quantified statistic.
• Sources were published in 2025 (covering 2024 data), after the exact session date cannot be confirmed, but the data period (2024) predates the session of 2026-07-07, so the MEP could have known it.

Sources

• PrimaryUN Women — Facts and figures: Women, peace and securityApproximately 676 million women and girls lived within 50 kilometers of these conflicts, the highest recorded number and share (17 per cent) [of the global female population].
• PrimaryUnited Nations — Women, peace and security (WPS page)The threat to women and girls in conflict zones has escalated. In 2023, over 600 million lived within 50 kilometers of conflict zones, a [record] ...
• SecondaryPRIO (Peace Research Institute Oslo) — Record number of women living in conflict in 2024An estimated 676 million women – nearly 17 percent of the global female population – lived within 50 kilometres of a deadly conflict last year [2024], the highest number recorded in decades.
• SecondaryReliefWeb — Women exposed to armed conflict, 1990–2024An estimated 676 million women (nearly 17% of the global female population) lived within 50 km of a deadly conflict event in 2024 – the highest number and share on record.