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Factbook
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Factbook on Global Sexual
Exploitation
Zimbabwe
Prostitution
The number of girls entering prostitution is increasing. The men who
sexually exploit girls are called "Sugar Daddies." (UNICEF 1991, Fred Katerere,
"Zimbabweans Youth Warned About Early Sex With Elders," PANA, 8 October
1997)
Organized and
Institutionalized Sexual Exploitation and Violence
About
one-fifth of female AIDS cases in Zimbabwe involve girls in their teens or younger, while
the equivalent number among males is one-seventh. Imbalances in infection rates among
girls and boys exist in other African countries as well, in large part because of child
prostitution but also, medical workers suspect, because of sexual abuse at home. (United
Nations,Dean E. Murphy, "Africa’s Silent Shame," Los Angeles Times,
16 August 1998)
Reported rapes in Zimbabwe have increased 30%
between 1993-1998 and more than half of the cases in 1997 involved children, a large
number of them under 5-years-old. (Dean E. Murphy, "Africa’s Silent Shame,"
Los Angeles Times, 16 August 1998)
Cases
A 31-year-old army captain infected with HIV was
convicted of raping a 4-year-old neighbor; authorities have not revealed whether the girl
has contracted the virus. In April 1998, a 38-year-old Harare man, also HIV-positive, was
accused of raping his 6-year-old daughter in the bathtub; the girl later tested positive
for the disease, authorities said. In an earlier trial, a rapist who described himself as
"King AIDS" was sentenced to life in prison for knowingly infecting an
8-year-old. (Dean E. Murphy, "Africa’s Silent Shame," Los Angeles Times,
16 August 1998)
Factbook Table of Contents
CATW
Homepage
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation
Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn and Vanessa Chirgwin
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