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(125): Rape: Blaming the Victim as the Perpetrator

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By Amina Haruna and Muhsin Ibrahim Sexual violence and rape occur worldwide. Some rape incidents defy any logic, while others may be associated with sadism, paedophilia, other types of paraphilia (i.e. sexual disorders). Consequently, throughout history, people weaponize sex. Women, including underage, are mostly the victims. Soldiers raped numerous women during and in the aftermath of World War II. Years later, more soldiers and militias raped women in the Yugoslav Wars of the early 1990s. Most recently, in 2015, French peacekeepers were charged for sexually abusing children in the Central African Republic in exchange for food and money. The stories are similar during several civil wars in other parts of Africa and beyond. Rape happens in peacetime, too. Now and again, news of rape springs up in countries, particularly India. In a widely watched documentary, in 2013, the BBC World Services described India as the most dangerous place to be a woman. While there are rape cases in Nig