We are very much aware of the hostilities and human suffering that are deeply connected with conflicts across the African continent. Yet the situation is far worse than what we see, read and feel sitting thousands of miles away from the conflict zones. UNICEF has warned that rape and sexual violence in some of the conflicts of Africa have taken the form of an epidemic leaving a profound effect on the lives of children and women in the war-ravaged regions.
While sexual violence is common in war-zones, women and children are now being raped in displacement camps, during aid distribution and even after conflicts have ended making it a priority for the international community to look into the matter closely and work towards an end to these evil acts. Although there is an increased recognition of the gendered nature of the conflicts in Africa within the international community, a lot of work has to be done to address the invisibility of women and young children from the conflict zones. African human rights activists have noted that rape is a common form in African conflicts to unleash fear among rival communities. But what has concerned UNICEF is the fact how rape cases doubled within days of the Kenyan political violence which makes the organisation believe that sexual violences have taken the form of epidemic in violent areas of different parts of Africa. The UN agency described the problem as an epidemic because the use of rape as a weapon is spreading from armies and militias to civilians in conflicts and civil wars.
The Amnesty International, which covers more than 130 countries in the world, highlights some of the examples of the impact of armed conflict on women in Africa. According to it, women and children suffer rape at the hands of the militia and various other armed groups across the region and even at the hands of their supposed protectors, the UN peacekeepers. UN forces based in the Democratic Republic of Congo are accused of carrying out systematic rape against innocent women and children making it very difficult for the UN to sort things out.
Moreover, this horrific situation is not getting the right publicity as it should. Far too much time get wasted by the rich nations addressing international terrorism when a third of that time could be used to good effect in normalizing Africa. Having said this we must not forget African countries have been colonized by various European countries in the past for immense reserves of natural resources and till date all the powerful nations are spreading their influence for the same age-old reason making the continent a big ball of fire ready to explode at any moment causing a humanitarian crisis never experienced before.
Source Link: MSNBC
