Each day, women in Africa live in fear of a rape assault.
Unlike victims in the United States, many African women do not have the right to reprimand the accused assailant in court. In fact, many women who are raped are told to keep their haunting, traumatizing experiences to themselves. Frequently, families will shun rape victims from their homes, ashamed of their presence. These women end up on the street, begging for food, with an even higher risk of yet another assault.
In a society where women are not considered equal to men, they are often powerless when they attempt to stand up for themselves. Amidst civil war and corrupt warlords, countless women are denied a voice and the right to live freely.
This is not an issue that the African governments can manage single-handedly. These women are in desperate need of external help. This assistance must come from other countries with the funds and resources to deliver aid.
Here in the United States, it is difficult to devote sufficient time to showing that we care about such dilemmas in other countries. With work, school and other consuming activities, we hardly have the time to address our own issues, let alone consider those abroad. Though rape in Africa may seem like a distant concern to Americans, it merits just as much concern as any other matter at hand here in the United States.
I recently stumbled across an article in The New York Times entitled “Rape Victims’ Words Help Jolt Congo Into Change.” The writer, Jeffrey Gettleman, draws attention to the rape incidents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the steps that the Congolese government are taking to break women’s silence and penalize the attackers. Other countries are also pitching in.
“European aid agencies are spending tens of millions of dollars building new courthouses and prisons across eastern Congo, in part to punish rapists,” Gettleman wrote.
With numerous organizations around the globe devoted to raising awareness about rape in Congo and other places, more and more people are realizing they too can help make a difference. America has also taken action against rapists in Congo. For example, according to Gettleman’s story, the American Bar Association opened a legal clinic in January specifically to help rape victims bring their cases to court.
Thousands upon thousands of women have been raped within a matter of years in Congo. According to the United Nations, Congo has the worst sexual violence in the world. It wasn’t until recently that rape victims have been encouraged, rather than shamed, to speak up and address the brutal situations they have endured.
However, though there has been some progress in giving voice to rape victims and putting the prosecuted behind bars, the women of Congo continue to suffer greatly and live in fear. Thousands of perpetrators are still on the loose. Many of them are nearly impossible to identify and incarcerate. Gettleman indicates in his article that many of the worst offenders are bandits who slip out of the forest late at night to launch a stealthy attack on a village before disappearing without a trace.
There are many other international and national dilemmas to fret about, making it difficult to for countries to devote too much effort to any one cause. However, one of the most crucial actions people can take right now is to simply get the word out. Also, finding a credible organization to support in its endeavor to help rape victims in Africa is another affirmative action.
National governments should continue with the small steps that they are taking and slowly build a strong system that will give women in Africa some peace of mind. Africa may be an ocean away, but the women are in need of all the help they can get.
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