As the world battles the covid-19 pandemic, a social menace has become pandemic and has continued to spread across every part of the world. Incident of rape is becoming common within the social context, a culture that needs to be discouraged.
In the United States a survey revealed that one in 16 women in the country was sexually molested in their early teens. Also according to the country’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five women have been raped in their lifetimes. The Centre reports that for most of the women, rape happened when they were less than 18 years old.
The Office of the National Statistics of the United Kingdom in 2018 said about 700,000 people between the age of 16 and 59 were victims of sexual assault, with women recording about 560,000.
A Home Office data revealed that of the 886 rape cases, just 1.5percent get reported to the police in 2018-19 led to charge or summons. While only 3 percent of rape allegations in 2016 resulted in conviction, according to a report from Claire Waxman.
In Nigeria, there has been unfortunate harvest of rape cases. According to the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, 717 rape cases were reported across the country between January and May this year.
He said 799 suspects have been arrested while 631 of the reported cases have been conclusively investigated and charged to court. He also revealed that 52 cases are currently under investigation.
There have been calls for definite global action against rape epidemic and laws to protect women and girls across the world. An International Civil Organisation, Equality Now, said “governments and policymakers should fix laws on sexual violence and ensure justice for survivors of sexual violence.”
Meanwhile, governments have committed to ending all forms of violence against women and girls. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Goal 5 of the SDG state the commitment of UN member states to “eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres”.
Civil organisations across the world pushing for definite action to protect women and girls can only hope that Goal 5 of the SDG would get the needed attention to put a stop to the threat to lives of women across the world.
