UN Women Brazil calls for zero tolerance for gang rape cases
United Nation Women Brazil issued a statement in which the organization sympathizes with the young women from Rio de Janeiro and Piauí who were victims of gang rapes, and asks government authorities from both states to adopt a gender perspective to investigate and try the cases. The organization also calls Brazilian society for "zero tolerance" for any violence against women and against the trivialization of this violence.
According to the statement that the 16-year-old teenager gave to Rio de Janeiro Civil Police, she had been doped and raped by several men. The crime was reported after a video showing the assault on the unconscious teenager and images of the victim's genitalia had been posted on social media. In the video, a man says "about 30 guys have gone through it."
In Bom Jesus, town in the south region of Piauí state, a 17-year-old said she was raped by four teenagers and an 18 year-old man, in the early hours of last Friday (May 20). After fighting with her boyfriend, the teenager would have drunk alcohol and the suspects took advantage of it to commit the crime. The young woman was found tied up inside an abandoned construction site.
Nadine Gasman, the UN Women representative in Brazil
The statement, signed by Nadine Gasman, the UN Women representative in Brazil, and released this Thursday (May 26), notes that both cases are "barbaric" and are similar in the fact that both teenagers had been attracted by the perpetrators in premeditated plots and when they were violently attacked, alcohol and drug use was reported.
"Considered a heinous crime, rape and its consequences cannot be tolerated or justified since it can produce devastating effects upon the physical and emotional health of women, who should have all the conditions to avoid increasing the suffering inflicted by the perpetration of violence," reads the text.
UN Women Brazil also points out the need to guarantee and improve the service for care network for women in situation of violence and to have gender specialized professionals in every government level to greatly assist the victims.
Translated by Amarílis Anchieta
Fonte: UN Women Brazil calls for zero tolerance for gang rape cases
