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Title	South Africa: Reports of rapes committed by police or other authorities in South Africa with particular reference to incidents perpetrated on the job
Publisher	Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Country	South Africa
Publication Date	30 October 2000
Citation / Document Symbol	ZAF35398.E
Reference	2
Cite as	Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, South Africa: Reports of rapes committed by police or other authorities in South Africa with particular reference to incidents perpetrated on the job, 30 October 2000, ZAF35398.E, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3df4bec920.html [accessed 12 February 2013]
Disclaimer	This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

South Africa: Reports of rapes committed by police or other authorities in South Africa with particular reference to incidents perpetrated on the job

According to AFP, rape charges were brought against 99 policemen in South Africa in 1999 (8 Nov. 1999). Thirty of the charges were withdrawn, two resulted in acquittals, 19 were suspended and 71 were still in service (ibid.).

A research officer at the MTN Centre for Crime Prevention Studies based at Rhodes University, in South Africa, stated that cases of rape committed on the job occur and those involving policemen have been reported in the press. "There is also an unacceptably high proportion of young children being raped by their teachers" (25 Oct. 2000). Cases of rape in general are under reported and statistics are therefore unreliable (ibid.; BJA 14 June 2000; Country Reports 1999, 2000, 459; IPS 2 Aug. 1999). "This means that the number of policemen who commit rape is probably higher than that which has made its way to the public" (MTN 25 Oct. 2000). This research officer further states that policemen and/or people in authority who commit rape are subject to the same legal and judicial processes as any other rapist. "In case of policemen, they are suspended from police duty" (ibid.).

Rape is an acute problem in South Africa (AFP 8 Nov. 1999; BJA 14 June 2000; All Africa News Agency 3 Dec. 1999; Country Reports 1999 2000, 459; MTN 25 Oct. 2000; IPS 2 Aug. 1999; CNN 23 Feb. 1997). South Africa has the "highest incidence" of violence against women in the world, and 42,229 cases of rape were reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS) in 1999 (All Africa News Agency 3 Dec.1999). "The National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders NICRO estimates that only one in 20 rapes is reported to the police and speculates that a rape occurs every 83 seconds in South Africa (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

All Africa News Agency. 3 December 1999. "A Rape Occurs Every 83 seconds in South Africa." (All Africa News/NEXIS)

Agence France Presse (AFP). 8 November 1999. "South Africa's Rape Crisis: 99 Policemen Charged in Past Year." (NEXIS)

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), South Africa. 14 June 2000. Michelle India Baird. "BJA Confronts Rape in South Africa."

<http://www.vera.org/Newsletter/2000/rapecenter.htm> [Accessed 20 Oct. 2000).

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999 2000. United States Department of State. United States Government Printing Office.

CNN. 23 February 1997. "South Africa Copes with Skyrocketing Rape, Abuse Rates." <http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9702/23/safrica.rapes> [Accessed 20 Oct. 2000]

Inter Press Service (IPS). 2 August 1999. Farah Khan. "Rights-South Africa: Women Call for Emergency Laws Against Rape." (NEXIS)

MTN Centre for Crime Prevention Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa. 28 October 2000. Correspondence from Research Officer.

Copyright notice: This document is published with the permission of the copyright holder and producer Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). The original version of this document may be found on the offical website of the IRB at http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/. Documents earlier than 2003 may be found only on Refworld.

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