Sexual attacks on girls and women

Editorial

OVER time the authorities have been encouraging victims of violence and their families to speak out and alert the authorities so help can be given.
Many say speaking out about one’s experiences opens the way for help and motivates others going through something similar to come forward.
This strategy – and others – is expected to be holistic, with multiple interventions undertaken in parallel order to have long-lasting and permanent results.
Many sectors, actors and stakeholders need to be engaged. Evidence is emerging on what interventions work to prevent violence – from community mobilisation, a change in social norms and comprehensive school interventions targeting staff and students, to economic empowerment and income supplements coupled with gender equality training.
This brings us to the case of the family of the 16-year-old girl in Southern Highlands who said she was raped by her teacher when she went to get her grade 8 certificate.
Indeed, it takes a brave family to reveal this social evil that is eating away at the very fabric of our society and the girl’s father must be commended for taking that stand.
Child abuse is all the worse when it occurs at the hands of a person to whom a child should be able to turn to for protection and security. It’s a harsh and often deadly betrayal of trust.
It appears that many people are keeping silent about sexual offending by family members.
They are even reluctant to divulge information to police about their sick-minded relatives, which is as bad as the offence itself.
In the case of the girl from Southern Highlands, she and her father have shown great courage in speaking out, especially when confronted with the culturally accepted practice of treating sexual offending lightly and then finding a solution that protects the offender, usually a man, from prosecution.
In this case, instead of being supported as victims of an alleged crime, the family is facing intimidation, ridicule, harassment and threat because they talked to police and the media.
We understand it is not easy dealing with traditional societies, but leaders should step up and be strong.
The government should focus on using power to resolve such conflicts by taking a more proactive approach.
It should collaborate with all stakeholders to establish an amicable solution.
There must be systems in place to support those who are brave to report the incident. Police again should be handling the report without fear or favour.
It is unbecoming of police officers to join the community and encourage the payment of compensation.
The alleged wrongdoers and their accomplices should be apprehended and brought before the courts.
Victims of sexual crimes tend to suffer from low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts and sometimes even see themselves as being in the wrong and all of this compounded by the fact that the perpetrator is a family member.
We need a better framework for helping victims and engendering a more conducive environment that will encourage victims of such crimes to report such abuses.
Unless people are empowered and transformed, this is an attitudinal problem constructed and crafted by cultural and traditional practices and beliefs, thus, there is the possibility that this issue will perpetuate.
We will say it again: There can be no justification for such monstrous and immoral acts.
A society that does not protect the vulnerable is a failed society.