Listen to their voices and act: Stop the rape and sexual abuse of girls in Nicaragua

Amnesty International, 2010, 26 Seiten

Rape and sexual abuse are widespread in Nicaragua, and the majority of victims are young, and female. In spite of  overwhelming evidence of the scale and seriousness of the problem, the nicaraguan government is still not treating this hidden human rights emergency with the urgency it warrants.
In this report, young girls and teenagers describe their experiences and the effect on their lives and futures of systemic failures by the nicaraguan  government to protect them from sexual violence and to ensure their rights to justice and reparations. Young survivors, their carers and support workers also explain how appropriate psychosocial, medical and legal support can make all the difference. They can help ensure that sexual violence is not the event that defines the rest of survivors’ lives. Yet lack of government funding for such essential services means that they remain beyond the reach of many who need them. The report also highlights the consequences of the 2008 law criminalizing all forms of abortion on young girls made pregnant as a result of rape; for girls who have already been denied control over their own bodies by the rapist, the current law is unbearably harsh and inhumane.
Young survivors of rape and sexual abuse in nicaragua are not silent
victims. They are speaking out, breaking the silence surrounding sexual violence, and standing up for their rights. In the words of estefany, who was raped and made pregnant by her uncle when she was 17: “I am not asking for sympathy, I want solidarity.”