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| Rape crisis. Image by rapecrisis.org.za |
Bosco Ntaganba
was seated inside the box provided for him by the International Criminal Court
(ICC) at the Hague, looking innocent and calm as he stand trial for crime
against humanity and large scale rape carried out by rebels under his command
in Congo DR. Over 240 women were raped, accusation he pleaded not guilty to.
However,rape is becoming a scourge spreading like wildfire. India women live
under fear as incessant level of rape rose record high in recent time.
Rape in war is as old as war itself. After
the sack of Rome in the 6th century Saint Augustine called rape in wartime an
"ancient and customary evil". For soldiers it is considered spoils of
war, mostly when they are underpaid or serves as motivation. Many historians
wrote about rape during the second world war, an episode in China as Japanese
invading army terrorize women, some women desperately trying to avoid been
raped,held on to one another and drown in a river. The Tianjing massacre
witnessed massive destruction including rape by the Japanese. Another episode
in Europe recorded that Soviet Union red army under Marshal Gerogi Zhukov
turned the tide of Nazi invasion in 1944 entered East Pomerania and heartlessly
raped underage girls and old women.
In recent time, as the reportage of rape
improve by the press, the scale of the crime has become horrifyingly apparent.
It has become hard to document and measure, most victims could not bear the
stigma and will remain silent. Inconclusive figures on how many women have been
raped is another problem which makes it difficult to access. Most data( e.g UN
population fund) only tell so much but lack accuracy, the numbers could be
minimum or perhaps exaggerated. According to the UN report in Congo DR, pointed
out that more rapes are reported in places with health services. But it is
difficult to report in places were fighting is fiercest, women may have to trek
hundred of miles to find anyone to tell about their ordeal. Even if they can do
so it may be months or years after the assault. Many victims are killed by
their assailant. Others die in pain of injuries.
The mind-boggling Congo horror forced me to
ask this question, can Africa be free from dark barbarism? Rape survivors in
Bakuvu, a town in south Kivu Province Congo gave an account of their
experience. Their ages ranged from as little as three to eighty. Some were
single,some married,some widows. This status is of no concern to the
assailants. They came from all ethnicity, so were not particularly targeted.
They were raped in homes,fields and forests. They were raped in front of
husbands and children. Almost 60percent were gang-raped according to some
reports. Sons were forced to rape mothers, and killed if they refused.
Worse still, rape is a tool of ethnic
cleansing. Illustrations could be seen in genocide carried out in Bosnia,
Darfur and Rwanda. It is believed in guerrilla warfare, young people forcibly
recruited into soldiering involve in gang rape to develop bond so as to build
internal ties. However, for the victims and family, rape does directly
opposite. The stigma and degradation of rape rip apart social and cultural
bond. In a society where family's honour rest on sexual purity of its women e.g
Senegal and Bangladesh. Here the blame for the loss of that honour often falls
not upon the rapist, but the raped.
Men wage wars, they rape women running for
their lives and kill them. Men also refuse to marry women that was raped. In
Bangladesh, men demanded for sweetener in form of extra dowry payments from
authorities before they marry a raped victim. Most victims of rape are usually
rejected and stigmatized by their community. Can a woman rape herself? How come
rape victims stand to suffer so much for what some senseless men who could not
keep their pants up did to them ?
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