{"id":1120,"date":"2007-11-26T06:30:45","date_gmt":"2007-11-26T06:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afrikaansenuus.co.za\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2007-11-26T06:30:45","modified_gmt":"2007-11-26T06:30:45","slug":"south-africa-wont-condemn-rape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/?p=1120","title":{"rendered":"South Africa won’t condemn rape"},"content":{"rendered":"
South Africa’s refusal to condemn the use of rape as a means of achieving political or military objectives and its calls for the broadening of the definition to include “all forms of sexual violence in all its forms and manifestations” may sully its international image, analysts say.<\/font>
<\/font>
Last week the United Nations General Assembly attempted to adopt a resolution to eliminate the use of rape as a weapon of war and intimidation but was thwarted by South Africa. It was reminiscent of South Africa’s refusal to discuss Zimbabwe at the UN Security Council and its vote that blocked a resolution demanding an end to human rights abuses in Burma. <\/font>
<\/font>
Hannah Botsis, a political researcher at the South African Institute of Race Relations, questioned South Africa’s record on human rights since assuming its position at the Security Council. “It seems that South Africa wants to throw its weight around, that they want to be taken seriously. What is a pity is that they seem to be objecting to all the wrong issues.”<\/font>
<\/font>
Botsis argues that there would be no harm in South Africa endorsing the resolution on rape as a weapon of war, and questions the motives behind the move. “If South Africa thinks that the United States is raising this resolution for political reasons, then South Africa could take that political issue up with the US elsewhere. Again South Africa has failed to come out strongly on the side of human rights … Is this about human rights or is it about being vocal against the Western world?” asks Botsis, pointing out that South Africa’s oppositional stance “does more harm than good”.<\/font>
<\/font>
The Western media’s coverage of the issue has not helped Africa’s reputation, particularly in light of South Africa’s high levels of sexual violence, says Abdul Lamin, senior lecturer in international relations at Wits University. <\/font>
<\/font>
“The reports coming out seem to suggest that South Africa condones sexual violence when in fact they are putting forward a principled argument,” Lamin said. “We should condemn rape wherever it is being perpetrated, including by the occupying forces of Iraq,” he added.<\/font>
<\/font>
Rape under any circumstances is “a cause for concern” and should be condemned, says Lisa Vetten, researcher at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, adding that the international community should not lose sight of the bigger picture by targeting only specific states. <\/font>
<\/font>
Adam Habib, deputy vice­chancellor at the University of Johannesburg, points out that US-led resolutions have manipulated genuine human rights issues in order for it to push country-specific agendas “against people whom they dislike”. <\/font>
<\/font>
Habib points to the fact that US President George W Bush specifically mentioned Burma and Sudan in endorsing the rape resolution but he has never acknowledged atrocities committed by American soldiers in Iraq.<\/font>
<\/font>
Habib said while there was a definite human rights issue to be addressed, those who condemned South Africa’s actions at the UN were “not seeing the politics at play”.<\/font>
<\/font>
Habib does concede, however, that “in opposing the [US’s] hidden agenda South Africa has opposed the resolution and that is a problem”. <\/font>
<\/font>
“It presents an interesting dilemma. The answer is not to oppose the resolution but to revise it so that the language applies evenly across all countries,” he says, adding that this might be why South Africa has insisted on a redraft to address a broader definition of rape. <\/font>
<\/font>
Democratic Alliance MP Sheila Camerer was part of a South African delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women where the Beijing Declaration was signed and rape was recognised as a war crime. “I remember we worked long and hard on that declaration and the wording thereof … It had the UN’s ‘blessing’ and serves as an advisory which one hopes would be influential in the international court [setting],” she says. <\/font>
<\/font>
Camerer says she finds it “strange” that South Africa had been a part of that declaration but was now calling for a broader consideration of rape. “Perhaps he [South African ambassador to the UN Dumisani Kumalo] doesn’t know about the declaration.”<\/font>
<\/font>
South Africa’s position on Zimbabwe and Burma is simply about South Africa following the lead of India and China, says Francis Kornegay, a senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies. He explains that if South Africa failed to toe the line it would certainly jeopardise the bargaining power it has with the two emergent superpowers. <\/font>
<\/font>
“Zimbabwe is on the doorstep of South Africa in the same way that Burma is close to China and India.” <\/font><\/div>\n

\u0432\u0430\u0440\u0438\u0430\u043d\u0442\u044b \u043e\u0441\u0432\u0435\u0449\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f \u043a\u0443\u0445\u043d\u0438 \u0444\u043e\u0442\u043e<\/a>topcargo \u043e\u0442\u0437\u044b\u0432\u044b<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s refusal to condemn the use of rape as a means of achieving political or military objectives and its calls for the broadening of the definition to include “all forms of sexual violence in all its forms and manifestations” may sully its international image, analysts say. Last week the United Nations General Assembly attempted … Continue reading “South Africa won’t condemn rape”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[21098,497],"class_list":["post-1120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c50-south-african-news","tag-s19-english","tag-south-african-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}