16 Days of Activist 2019
25 November 2019
25 November marks the annual commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as well as the commencement of the United Nation’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign. This campaign is an annual movement aimed at galvanising action, raising awareness, and honouring and acknowledging powerful women’s movements whose unrelenting work seeks to create and foster safer environments for women and children, wherever they may find themselves. The 16 Days Campaign comes to an end on 10 December, which is also International Human Rights Day, when the world recognises the great strides that have been made in the protection and promotion of universal human rights.
Each year, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), commemorates this 16-day period under a different theme speaking to the issues which affect women the most. This year, the theme is “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands against Rape!” and calls for communities to take a bold stand against rape.
This theme couldn’t come at a more appropriate time, particularly in the South African context, where the rate of violence (of all forms) against women is astronomical. The South African legal definition of rape is progressive and broad, recognising the many ways in which rape can occur. It encompasses oral, anal or vaginal penetration of a person (male or female) with a genital organ, with any object and the penetration of a person’s mouth with the genital organs of an animal. The statistics speak to a pervasive rape culture (the sociological concept for a setting in which rape is pervasive and normalised because of societal attitudes about gender and sexuality) where women and children - the most vulnerable - bear the brunt, coupled with the impunity with which too many perpetrators operate.
Taking into account the above definition, according to the South African Police Service (SAPS), in the 2018/19 period, 41 583 rapes were reported. This is an increase from 40 035 rapes during 2017/18. The 2018/19 numbers translate to an average of 114 rapes being recorded by the police each day. While anyone can be a victim of rape, the statistics indicate that the overwhelming majority of victims who report, are indeed women and girls. It is important to recognise that due the very intimate nature of rape, far too many victims to not report the crime. This distorts the figures, meaning that it is unlikely that we will ever have an accurate representation of the picture of rape in South Africa, and indeed the world.