Rape Awareness Week: time for New Zealand to change

It is time for New Zealand to break the cycle of sexual violence that sees some women suffering multiple revictimisation says the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Hekia Parata.

This week (May 2-6) is Rape Awareness Week, which aims to raise awareness of the terrible human and economic costs of sexual violence.

“New Zealanders need to wake up to the fact that sexual violence is shamefully common in New Zealand, and that the impacts – and often the abuse – frequently continue throughout people’s lives.

“This fact was highlighted by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs’ groundbreaking ‘Restoring Soul’ research project, completed in 2009.

“While many people believe that sexual violence tends to be a one-off incident, MWA’s research highlighted that this is often not the case. For some women, it begins in childhood or adolescence and continues throughout their lives.''

Research internationally and in New Zealand has shown that a relatively small number of victims suffer multiple sexual violence and that they account for a large percentage of violence.

In the 2006 New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey, two percent of women stated that they had been sexually victimised twice or more in the previous year. They accounted for just over 70 percent of all sexual offences against women measured in the survey.

“Revictimisation is a major issue and I have asked the Ministry to focus its efforts on investigating how we can prevent sexual revictimisation and to reduce the impacts on victims,'' Ms Parata says.

“Sexual revictimisation is not well understood. The Ministry work will help us understand how we can break the cycle of revictimisation and better support these women.''