Rape statistics are discouraging. If ever there was a time when voices needed to be raised in support of measures to protect women and girls -- all over the world -- it is now.

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    Worldwide, the incidence of rape against women is estimated to be as high as 70%.  Amnesty International recently predicted that one in five  will become victims of sexual assault.  They point out that rape often leads to stigmatization, and there is more risk of contracting HIV and AIDS.
Pregnancy is always a danger, and in some cultures, a woman who has been raped is abused by her family, the community, or both.  She is, after all, “damaged property.”
             Rape statistics are extremely disturbing.   Last year, 15,000 women were raped in the Congo.   Women who are Native Americans or Native Alaskans are said to be two-and-a-half times as likely to be sexually assaulted as non-native women in the U.S..   Something like six out of 10 female migrants from Central America are raped en route.
             Not all the news is bad.  Amnesty International was instrumental in getting legislation passed that is helping to protect Native-Americans and -Alaskan women.  President Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 into effect.
            We need to pressure Congress to reintroduce and throw unanimous support behind the International Violence Against Women Act, which is meant to prevent and respond to violence against women during conflicts and in their homes and help women’s groups aid survivors.   Plus we need to insist that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women [CEDAW]
be ratified.  Every other country in the Western hemisphere and all but seven other countries
have agreed to ratification of the treaty!
           These are but a few of the measures that can be taken to protect women and girls from being
abused.
           For more information, go to http://www.amnestyusa.org or write Amnesty International USA,  5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001.

                                                             
                                     Phyllis Jean Green
                                  (for Angels That Care)                                                     
                                         October, 2011