United Nations, United States | AFP | UN peacekeepers from Nepal are facing allegations of child rape in South Sudan, the UN spokesman said Monday, describing the case as “especially heinous.” At the request of the United Nations, Nepal agreed to send a team of investigators to work with the UN …
Read More »Child rape case heightens India’s Hindu-Muslim divide
Jammu, India | AFP | The internet is being cut for hours on end in Jammu as authorities try to halt protests that have grown in the Kashmir winter capital since the rape-murder of an eight year old girl opened a new front in India’s Hindu-Muslim divide. With near daily …
Read More »Rapes, ethnic attacks rising in DR Congo’s lawless east
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Sexual and ethnic violence are alarmingly on the rise in Democratic Republic of Congo’s lawless east, spawning a humanitarian catastrophe with millions forced to flee their homes. At least 13.1 million Congolese need humanitarian aid, including 7.7 million who are severely food insecure, the …
Read More »Police arrest 8 in Mali for gang rape and paedophilia
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Police in Mali said Thursday they had arrested eight people in connection with two gang rapes and a separate case of paedophilia, as campaigners urged the adoption of laws penalising gender-based violence. Reports of the gang-rape of a young woman have circulated since the weekend …
Read More »Sweden proposes tougher rape laws after #MeToo wave
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | The Swedish government proposed on Thursday a law that would make any involuntary sex rape, even without explicit threats or violence, after the country was rocked by the #MeToo campaign denouncing sexual harassment and assault. “The incidence of sexual offences is increasing in Sweden, with younger …
Read More »UN says life terms for DRCongo child rapists a ‘major advance’
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday hailed as a “major advance” life sentences served this week on a provincial lawmaker and ten militiamen convicted of raping young girls. The group were jailed for life on Wednesday in the east of the …
Read More »Dozen DR Congo child rapists handed life sentences
Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | A dozen militiamen in eastern DR Congo were jailed for life Wednesday for raping about 40 children, including a baby, in what was judged a crime against humanity. The defendants were said to belong to a militia group called “Djeshi ya Yesu” — meaning “Army …
Read More »Egypt court sentences lawyer to jail over rape remarks
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced a lawyer who said woman wearing ripped jeans should be raped to three years in prison, a judicial source said. The sentence against Nabih al-Wahsh was passed in absentia as the lawyer, previously released on bail, did not attend …
Read More »DR Congo court suspends trial over mass rape of children
Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | The trial of 18 suspected militiamen over the kidnapping and rape of some 40 girls in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been suspended after a defendant demanded the recusal of two judges, a judicial source said Friday. The demand was made by a …
Read More »DR Congo militiamen on trial for raping children
Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | Eighteen suspected militiamen, including a provincial lawmaker, went on trial Friday in DR Congo’s chaotic east for kidnapping and raping some 40 girls. Frederic Batumike and 17 others face charges of “crimes against humanity through rape and murder … and taking part in an …
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