By Bridgett Milton
A group of young men under the banner Men Against Rape and Domestic Violence (MARD-V) is calling on President George to make good his pronouncement of two years ago, declaring rape as a national emergency, by naming a special prosecutor for rape cases, equipping Criminal Court ‘E’ for speedy and impartial trial of rape cases across the country.
The group also wants government to make available US$2 million promised to conduct ant-rape awareness and other programs.
Speaking in a news conference Thursday, March 17, 2022, the Acting Director General of the group Trojen M. Kaizolu said since men are usual suspects of rape, some of them who are against the act decided to unprecedentedly organize ourselves into a movement named and styled, Men Against Rape and Domestic Violence, to stand side by side with mothers, sisters, wives, and children in fighting rape.
He said while there are other factors responsible for the increase of rape crime in the country, lack of adequate enforcement of the rape law seems to be the primary reason.
“If something is not adequately dealt with, it will plunge our society into one place that could be described as barbaric”, Kaizolu noted.
He added that hearts have been broken in recent days with news of babies and young girls being raped across the country, including even news of the death of 13 years old Blessing, who was allegedly raped by a 47-year-old man identified as Varmuyan Swaray, which caused the victim to die from bleeding.
He notes that last year, a total of 1,338 persons fell prey to rape and with the start of the year 2022, accounting for 15 rape cases, it is worrisome and needs everyone to do something.
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He added that as far as they are concerned, there’s been no further state-reported action on these alleged rape cases.
Those of us who are journalists have used our platforms to publish, broadcast rape cases but it seems like our efforts need to be more than what we have been doing, he laments. Editing by Jonathan Browne
