A woman raped every half hour, forum told

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Friday January 27, 2006

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A woman raped every half hour, forum told

By ph Murimi and phine Kogo

Every half an hour a woman is raped in Kenya, a forum discussing the Sexual Offences Bill was told on Thursday.

The Chairperson of Kenya Women Parliamentarians Association (Kewopa), Betty Tett, said at least 16,482 women are raped every year, translating to one every half-hour. Contrary to popular belief, men too are victims of rape, although to a lesser extent than women.

Statistics from hospitals and community-based organisations indicate that 102 male sexual violence victims were treated at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital in the last three years.

Some 2,329 female sexual violence victims were treated at the same hospital over the same period.

Other crimes such as murder, robbery and theft are less than half the number of sexual assaults, Tett said.

The figures show that 70 per cent of rape cases in Nairobi were not reported.

"Sexual violence has hit an all-time high in the history of Kenya. The youngest rape survivor in Kenya is five months and the oldest 82 years old," Tett said.

She said this is a serious situation that needed to be urgently addressed.

Tett said despite efforts to combat sexual violence, gaps in the law made it difficult to prosecute and to secure a conviction. She said the enactment of the Sexual Offences Bill would reinforce efforts aimed at combating sexual violence.

Lenient sentences

Tett said Kewopa would spearhead lobbying for the Bill’s enactment to ensure safety of the public. MPs present at the forum were Njoki Ndung’u, Mango, Alicen Chelaite, Nyiva Mwendwa, Ojiambo, Amina Abdala, Jayne Kihara, Betty Tett and Oloo Aringo.

Njoki, who drew the Bill, took the participants through the document to sensitise them on its contents. She said they required support from their male counterparts to make the Bill sail through without much delay.

Aringo said the Bill was not a woman’s affair, saying men were equally affected by rape as they are fathers, husbands and brothers of the victims.

He praised Njoki for coming up with the Bill, saying had it been left to the Government, "it would have taken ages because it has no time to make laws". Njoki said the current laws were outdated and treat sexual violence as a moral issue rather than a criminal offence. She said the laws gave lenient sentences and fines and were not deterrent.

Ojiambo said the Bill was not about castration of men but it covered other issues like child trafficking, child prostitution and sex tourism.

Mango said only specially trained police officers should handle rape cases to avoid ridiculing victims.

The forum brought together MPs, police, the media and the civil society.