Posted by Amarachi on Tue 26th Nov, 2019 - tori.ng
UN Women have called for a total end to rape and ask for the recruitment of female police officers in order for the survivors to trust them again.
File Photo
The Executive Director, UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngouka has called for a total end to rape while recommending the recruitment of more women into the police forces and training them adequately as a crucial first step in ensuring that survivors begin to trust again.
In a statement made available to the media, in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Mlambo-Ngouka disclosed that almost universally, most perpetrators of rape either go unreported or undeterred, stating that less than 10 percent of women who did seek help after experiencing violence contacted the police.
Adding that progress would require the removal of institutional and structural barriers, she said that half of all countries do not currently have laws which criminalise marital rape.
” No further generations must struggle to cope with a legacy of violence”, she added.
Meanwhile, in a similar vein, the World Health Organization, WHO, has revealed that a staggering one in three women has experienced physical and sexual violence in their lifetime, referring to the scourge as a pandemic of global proportions.
“Violence is not inevitable. It can be prevented but it is not as straightforward as eradicating a virus. There is no vaccine, medication or cure. And there is no one single reason for why it happens”, said the statement.