UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to name and shame individuals and parties to armed conflict that are “credibly suspected” of committing rape or other forms of sexual violence.

The council said it intends to use the list, to be compiled by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “for more focused United Nations engagement with those parties,” including imposing sanctions.

The resolution adopted by the council reiterates deep concern that despite its repeated condemnation, rapes and attacks on women and children caught in conflict continue to occur “and in some situations have become systematic and widespread, reaching appalling levels of brutality.”

The action follows the rape of 303 civilians — 235 women, 13 men, 52 girls and three boys — in 13 villages in eastern Congo between July 30 and Aug. 2. Even in the conflict-wracked region, where rape has become a daily hazard and some women have been sexually assaulted repeatedly over the years, the numbers released by the U.N. were shocking.

Margot Wallstrom, U.N. envoy on sexual violence in conflict, welcomed the adoption of the resolution, saying the new system of monitoring and accountability should “shatter the vicious cycle of impunity for wartime sexual violence.”

She said the naming and shaming “must apply equally whether the victim is an 8-year-old girl or an 80-year-old grandmother.”

“Today’s resolution will help ensure that mass rape is never again met with mass impunity,” she said. “Instead of serving as a cheap, silent and effective tactic of war, sexual violence will be a liability for armed groups. It will expose their superiors to increased international scrutiny, seal off the corridors of power and close all exits to those who commit, command or condone such acts.”

The International Criminal Court has added rape and sexual violence to the list of war crimes. Congo’s former vice president, Jean-Pierre Bemba, is on trial at the court in The Hague, Netherlands, for murder, rape and pillage committed by his private militia in the Central African Republic in 2002-2003.