Sexual Violence in East Africa: the Reasons for its Prevalence - Report Example

Rape is the process where a person is subjected to sexual relations without the consent of the person. In addition, rape has been defined as the process of making sexual contact with another person without the consent of that person. It is mainly exercised against women and girls due to the fact that men are the main perpetrators of these forms of violence against women (Bennet et al. 2004). On rare occasions have women been involved in perpetrating sexual assault against men. Sexual violence is defined as any exploitation act, gesture, or contact that is sexual in nature that is undesired, or undertaken without the approval of an individual, and is executed through duress, intimidation, trickery, threats, or physical force (Eboe-Osuji 2012).

From the atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan and Northern Congo through the Rwanda genocide horrors and rape camps of Bosnia, the count of body bags is just matched with another ugly static: the number of women who were subjected to sexual violence in Bosnia is approximately 50000 (Campbell 2006; Cesario et al. 2014).The most significant issue that surrounds rape is consent. It is recommended that people should not be involved in sexual activity unless the parties involved have given their individual consents.

When the consent is given in duress, then it is not free consent and if another person is physically affected as a result of alcohol, the use of drugs and considered incapable of consenting to sex with the person consenting under duress is considered rape. Based on the location of the place where rape has taken place, a person who is aged below 16 years has a legal obligation to consent to sex with another person (Kennedy and Patrick 2014). Sexual contact is regarded as a statutory rape despite a lack of knowledge of the perpetrator.

When one party does not have the ability to consent due to disability caused by age, drugs, and alcohol, the act of making sexual contact with the person is equal to subjecting the person to rape. A similar abuse was suffered by 40 percent of Liberia’s citizens over a period of 14 years. In 2000, merely less than half of those interviewed in a random exploration within Sierra Leone had suffered rape- in reality, those gang-raped exceeds a quarter (Baaz, & Stern, 2013; Campbell et al. 2001).

According to the United Nations’ Institute for Research and Training (INSTRAW), sexual assault is entrenched in present attitudes, norms and behavior in the centre of sexuality and gender (Constantino et al. 2005). What is considered to define this violence is the present definitions and norms of what it implies to be a man or a woman, and the way women and men are positioned in relation to one another. Such definitions as well as norms promote and even uphold brutal conduct in settings that dispense hierarchical supremacy and privileges to particular category of people (Chang et al.

2005; Cornwall 2001). Sexual violence mostly inclines to the female gender as they make up a significant percentage of those who are abused and thus can be related to gender based violence. For this reason it can be seen as an execution of structural inequalities in addition to power hierarchies established and supported by processes of socialization, cultural norms and belief systems (Baaz and Stern 2013; Colombini et al. 2012). 2. Picture of rape in East Africa compared to the UK There are many ways in which sexual violence and rape are experienced by residents of East African countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

When the picture of sexual violence in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda is compared to that of the UK, it is found that the authorities within East Africa have abandoned their role as the protectors of freedoms and essential rights of the citizens of the region compared to the care provided by the UK authorities towards the citizens of the UK (Contreras et al. 2010; Cook et al. 2004). This does not imply that there have been no attempts to deter sexual violence but such attempts have been a disappointment as they have failed to address the problem in question.

On the other hand, the UK government has been effective in its effort to control sexual violence by ensuring the perpetrators are brought to book (McCabe 2007). For instance, those arrested of sexual violence in the UK have been sentenced to imprisonment while in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, most people convicted of sexual violence receive lenient prosecution that can lead to their acquittal (Mutua 2009). This has significantly increased their motivation to involve in sexual violence even after they have been arrested.

When the judicial systems of East African countries are compared with that of the UK, it is found that there is a high level of inefficiency in the East African judicial system which results into high chances of acquittal of a person who has been convicted of involvement in sexual violence (Fitzpatrick, 1995). This is not the case in the UK where the judicial system has clearly defined laws on how a person convicted of sexual violence should be tried in court. The judicial system of East African countries have failed to speed up policy, administrative as well as legislative approaches that can lessen the suffering and pain of the victims of sexual violence (Coulthard et al.

2010; Crespo et al. 2010). The respective law making bodies in East Africa have failed to comprehensively amend the laws in existence so as to enhance justice in a way that is admirable. Additionally, there exist no legal measures or official policies that have the capacity to guarantee compensation to the victims of sexual violence. The system of criminal justice has, to this point, intensively focused on persons accused, not taking into consideration the costs of the assailant’s action that may comprise of death, unwanted pregnancy, maiming, HIV infection and other diverse health hitches (Crocker, D.

1999; Weissbrodt and Fraser 1992). Whereas the system of traditional criminal justice provokes a paradigm shift when dealing with cases of sexual violence through giving direct compensation to victims, such reparations are not always sufficient in any way. Such frameworks do not necessarily focus on easing the conditions of the victim but rather holds onto the notion of ‘benefit’ to the victim and the family (De Greiff 2006; Gielen et al. 2000).