Thursday, October 10, 2002

Jumping Jebus! Soemthing is seriously wrong in South Africa.

A pilot study on sexual violence in South Africa's urban and rural schools has found that many pupils admitted raping other children .

The study, conducted by Community Information Empowerment and Transparency: Africa among 9 300 children across the country, showed that between 12% and 20% of boys and between 5% and 13% of girls in both urban and rural areas admitted to having forced sex on children.

Neil Andersson, executive director of Ciet, presented the findings of the pilot study at the South African Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect's national conference in Durban this week.

"We were shocked by the findings and took the information back to focus groups at certain schools. The participants brazenly admitted that they did have sex with other children without their consent." Andersson said the study showed that child-on-child rape is fast becoming part of a "culture of sexual violence" in South Africa.

"The children believe that this is what they have to do to be successful in life. Girls in the 10 to 14 years age group made shocking revelations. Many claimed to have had sex with other children without their consent. They have tough attitudes about sex, similar to the attitudes of adult men," Andersson said.

Many girls from the 10- to 14 -year group also expressed concern that they could be HIV-positive.

"Focus groups in this category admitted that girl-on-girl sex without consent and sex between a group of girls against a boy was not uncommon. What is shocking is that these children find it normal to engage in intercourse without consent."

The study also revealed that, by the age of 18, 30% of all schoolgoers had been victims of sexual abuse.

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