South Africa: Govt meets anti-rape activists

Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System
Date: 14 Mar 2011
Title: Govt meets anti-rape activists
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By Francis Hweshe

Cape Town - Government has met a group of gay and lesbian activists, who are lobbying for "corrective rape" to be labeled a hate crime.

Activists gathered outside Parliament today to highlight their concerns about lesbians, whom they said were being raped in order to change their sexual orientation.

Representatives of the group were said to have gone into a meeting with Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, Jeff Radebe.

The activists said that they wanted to push his department to set up a commission to research, develop and implement a national action plan to tackle hate crimes and anti-gay and lesbian violence.

The meeting is still in progress.

In a statement, the lobbyists said a small group of lesbian activists in the townships of Cape Town launched a petition calling on Radebe to take action on "corrective rape."

They claimed that in a period of 100 days, the activists had collected more than 170 000 signatures from 163 countries.

Reported by: South African Government News Service

Published on: 2011-03-14

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