KIGALI, April 5 — When David, a 19-year-old Rwandan, is asked about his parents, he prefers to conceal being one of thousands of children born from a rape during the 1994 genocide.
“I say I don’t have a father,” he explained.
It is impossible to say exactly how many women were raped during the genocide — the majority of them were subsequently killed and many survivors prefer not to talk about it.
It is equally difficult to estimate the number of children born of rape since 20 years after the genocide — in which an estimated 800,000 people, essentially Tutsis, died — the subject is still very much taboo.
“Rape was the rule and its absence the exception,” said a UN Human Rights Commission report in 1996. “Unfortunately, there are no statistics... rape was systematic and was used as a weapon by the perpetrators of the massacres.”
After his initial “surprise” and “anger”, David said he “had no choice but to accept” that he was born from a rape and would like to know more. — AFP
See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/features/article/children-born-of-rape-forgotten-victims-of-rwandas-genocide#sthash.8VoWZULX.dpuf
No Comment to " Children born of rape: forgotten victims of Rwanda’s genocide. "