Women are not sex objects

It is clear that we are losing focus as a moral driven society.

The crime statistics as well daily reports shared by the media paint a grim picture for the future of our country.

There is still no end in sight and that is the scary part. While violence and drug and alcohol related crimes continue to hog the headlines on a daily basis, the recurrence of rape is equally worrisome.

A day hardly goes by without a woman or child becoming a victim of rape. The sexual assault on our women and children is very real in our society.

This violence against women and children is a dark stain on our nation. We need to agree that the fight against violence and women and child abuse cannot be left to law-enforcement authorities only. It requires our collective responsibility to be eradicated from our society. This trend also shows that we have as a nation failed to instil the fundamental principles that all citizens should uphold for the preservation of our moral values. We need to eliminate violence and rape permeating our communities.

Nationwide condemnation and outrage is not enough to end this phenomenon. The justice system in our country works and has made great strides in providing justice our society by imposing hefty sentences for the criminals convicted of these types of crimes.

But is this enough? No! We must deal with inconceivable perceptions that women are men's sexual objects and/or possessions. In addition the culture of silence and concealment involving rape victims must furthermore be addressed.

In this editorial we demand that civil society, the criminal justice system and fellow citizens, especially men, should take the sexual assault of women and rape seriously, more so than what is happening today. As much as we want all rape claims to be investigated aggressively, it is time to spearhead anti-rape campaigns targeting young men and boys. We believe communal education campaigns will teach men and boys from a very tender age that women must be respected.