NAI researcher critical of rape report

Every day more than 1100 women are being raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. More than 400 000 women and girls between the ages 15 and 49 were victims of rape during a period of twelve months in 2006 and 2007, the report claims.

However, the Swedish researchers Maria Eriksson Baaz and Maria Stern are very critical of the study.
– Firstly it does not provide any new information. The report is based on the DHS (Demographic and Health Service) data from 2007, which is already known. The authors then did some additional statistical analysis. So there is nothing new and the interpretation of this old data is highly questionable, the researchers say.

Maria Eriksson Baaz is a researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute and the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg. Maria Stern is associate professor at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg. Four questions for Maria Eriksson Baaz and Maria Stern

Read the report here.

The report has also generated a debate in the blogosphere.

Decades of discontent have turned into an Arab Spring of hope for democracy and empowerment, opening opportunities for long awaited economic and social progress. The rapid creation of more jobs is now crucial. A key to create jobs is to develop sustainable economic activities such as improved trade. Therefore it is imperative to establish a more ambitious genuine Mediterranean integration. With major multilateral institutions putting their resources to its service, with the EU as a major anchor, writes Mats Karlsson, Director, Center for Mediterranean Integration, Marseille in a new article on NAI Forum.

To coincide with last year's Göteborg Book Fair which focused on African literature, NAI published "Afrika har ordet". The book has now been translated into English entitled "Africa has the floor". The book contains pictures of and biographical notes on all the African authors who visited the book fair. The introduction is by NAI director Carin Norberg, the biographical notes are by Anita Theorell, while Henning Mankell and Véronique Tadjo have written their personal reflections.

The book can be downloaded for free in DiVA and will be sold at the ECAS Conference 15-18 June, 2011 in Uppsala.