South African Children Most at Risk of Rape

A new report states that individuals ages 12 to 17 are the most likely to be sexually attacked in South Africa, the nation with the world's highest incidence of rape and the largest HIV caseload. The finding was based on visits to South Africa's network of Thuthuzela Care Centers for rape survivors, said Lulu Xingwana, the women's minister. More than 34,000 victims turned to the centers during the three-year review period. "The group of children between the ages of 12 and 17 years are emerging as the most vulnerable group, constituting the majority -- about 15,000 -- of the people visiting these centers," Xingwana said. A 2009 report by the government's Medical Research Council found that more than one-quarter of South African men admitted to having raped a female; only one in 25 rapes were reported to the police; and one in five confessed rapists tested positive for HIV.

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