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The Straits Times, Mar 16, 2009

JOHANNESBURG - SOUTH African lesbians are suffering rapes by men trying to 'cure' their homosexuality, in what is becoming one of the most common hate crimes against gay women in the country, according to a new study.

The study by the anti-poverty group ActionAid said that women living in townships in Johannesburg and Cape Town were reporting increasing attacks and murders by men committing so-called 'corrective' rape.

South African women generally face a staggering risk of rape in a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world said a report on Monday.

Almost half of South African women will be raped in their lifetime, according to the report.

It said 500,000 rapes were committed each year. Of every 25 men brought to trial for rape, only one is convicted.

But lesbians are being singled out by men who think that the rape will change their sexual orientation, said the head of ActionAid South Africam, Zanele Twala.

'So-called 'corrective' rape is yet another grotesque manifestation of violence against women, the most widespread human rights violation in the world today,' she said.

One support group in Cape Town said it is responding to 10 new cases of 'corrective' rape every week, in that city alone, the report said.

South Africa's constitution enshrines equal rights for gay people, but hate crimes based on sexual orientation are not recognised by law or in courts, the study said.

At least 31 lesbians have been killed in homophobic attacks over the last decade, but only one case has led to a conviction, it said, warning the real number of killings is likely much higher in a country where 50 people meet a violent death every day. -- AFP

Source: The Straits Times
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