South Africa – A Child Is Raped Every 3 Minutes

South Africa has the highest incidence of rape in the world, and almost half the victims are children.
A child is raped in South Africa every three minutes,
But almost 9 out of 10 cases of child rape are never reported.
Often it is because the child is too scared of the rapist to tell anyone.
Rape is the least likely crime to be reported and victims say fear of reprisal is the most common reason for not telling anyone.
A girl born today in South Africa has around a one in three chance of completing secondary school,
But she has a one in two chance of being raped.

Over 5 million people in South Africa are living with aids,
More than any other country in the world.
So when a child is raped, the victim should automatically be given anti-aids drugs to try to stop any infection developing.
The immune system can take weeks or months to develop the anti-bodies that show a child is HIV positive.

Around one-third of child rape victims are raped by a close relative – an uncle, brother, or their father.
A woman in South Africa is eight times more likely to be raped than in the UK.
The South African Department of Justice reports that one in four women suffer violence in the home.
Lessons on domestic violence are given in primary schools.

It is estimated around 200,000 children are raped every year in South Africa.
In Port Elizabeth, the country’s fifth largest city, it’s estimated that 12 children are raped every day.
Of the cases of sexual abuse Port Elizabeth Childline dealt with in 2009, 80 per cent involved children under thirteen.
Less than one in a hundred rapes end in a successful prosecution, but for that process even to begin social workers have to be involved.

Eight million people in South Africa live in so-called ‘informal settlements’ with no electricity, no running water and no toilet facilities.

The government don’t help these children and their families,
Social services lack resources, the courts dish out soft sentences to the rapists, and the police are bloody useless.