 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
The Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation |
|
|
About the Factbook |
|
Contents |
Asia
Europe
Oceania
Africa
Middle East
Central America
& the Caribbean
South America
North America |
|
| About the Factbook |
|
The Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation was compiled from media,
non-governmental organization and government reports. It is an initial effort
to collect facts, statistics and known cases on global sexual exploitation.
Information is organized into four categories:
- Trafficking,
- Prostitution,
- Pornography, and
- Organized and Institutionalized
Sexual Exploitation
and Violence.
Sources were not contacted to verify information. Close examination will reveal
that there are contradictions in information depending on the sources of information
(ex: how many women are in prostitution in Thailand). All statistics are reported
with no attempt to evaluate which numbers are more likely to be accurate. In fact,
the exact numbers in many cases are not known and estimates come from different sources
which use different methods to determine what they report.
We hope these facts will assist people to recognize the harm caused throughout the world
by sexual violence and exploitation and catalyze action against this violence agianst women.
This project was made possible with the support of the College of Arts and Sciences,
University of Rhode Island and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Norway.
If you use this information in your work, please reference this factbook-- The Factbook on
Global Sexual Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn,
Vanessa Chirgwin, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, 1999.
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
Rwanda
|
ORGANIZED AND INSTITUTIONALIZED
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND VIOLENCE |
|
|
Rape was used as an act of terrorism on thousands of women during the genocide
in Rwanda. Only one person has been charged with the rapes against women.
The women are systematically told, "You should be glad that you’re alive."
(Connie Ngondi, executive director of Kenya's branch of the International
Commission of Jurists, Arusha-based U.N. tribunal, Muringi, "Seeking Gender
Role in International Court Debate," United Nations, 12 August 1997)
Rape has been defined as a genocidal crime for the first time by an international
tribunal. United Nations judges also said that sexual violence is not limited
to "physical invasion" of the body and may not even require physical contact.
Acts of sexual violence brutally wielded during Rwanda's 1994 bloodbath "constitute
genocide, the same as any other act," Judge Laity Kama of Senegal said as
he read nine guilty judgments against a former Rwandan village mayor, Jean-Paul
Akayesu. Women's groups hailed the decision as historic, saying it would pave
the way for prosecuting crimes of sexual violence committed in the course
of armed conflict.
Akayesu was found guilty of genocide, murder, rape and torture in presiding
over the slaughter of 2,000 minority Tutsis who had sought his protection.
While no one accused Akayesu of personally raping any women, the court ruled
he was criminally responsible because he witnessed and encouraged the sexual
violence of militiamen and police. Acts of sexual violence generally were
accompanied by explicit threats of death or bodily harm, and that meant Tutsi
women lived in constant fear, the court said. (Karin Davies, Associated
Press, 2 September 1998)
|
|
|