NCJ Number
227494
Journal
International Criminal Justice Review Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 208-224
Date Published
June 2009
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article examines the extent and prevalence of rape victimization following the Rwandan genocide, and discusses the importance of knowing the extent of victimization in gauging the damage and the support of those victimized.
Abstract
A conclusion drawn was that there was a dearth of information on rape victimization during the Rwandan genocide. However, in the midst of the chaos of the genocide, attention was directed more at the number of deaths than at victims of rape, which probably had no priority. The purpose of this research was to produce an estimate of the prevalence of victimization of an offense that is known to occur often in the course of a period of collective violence or genocide. To study the crime of genocide, baseline data was needed. The study also aimed to assess the relative prevalence of rape victimization during Rwandan genocide comparing it to pre-genocide rape prevalence rates and comparing it to the global hot spot of rape incidence. The methodological exercises showed that, though in principle feasible, back calculation of rape victimization prevalence from the number of rape-incurred births and pregnancies produced methodological complications for the Rwandan case. Estimating rape victimization from combined survey findings, mortality, and census data, found that the available data led to incongruities in estimation. Even so, conservative estimates showed that rape victimization in Rwanda must at the minimum have been substantially higher than the 250,000 that was often quoted. In addition, estimates also showed that for women the risk to be raped was about as high as the risk to be killed and that rape incidence levels were very much elevated above ordinary levels. Table and references