Avaaz, a global web human rights advocacy organization, issued a call today for its users to sign a petition asking South Africa President Jacob Zuma and Jeffrey Radebe, minister of the country’s Department of Health, to address “corrective rape,” the practice of sexually assaulting lesbians to “cure” their sexuality.
Avaaz’s petition reads:
We call on you to publicly condemn 'corrective rape', criminalise hate crimes, and ensure immediate enforcement, public education and protection to victims. This terrible practice can only be stopped with leadership from your office and throughout government.
According to Luleki Sizwe, a South African organization dedicated to fighting “corrective rape,” more than 10 lesbians are raped each week in Cape Town.
Same-sex marriages are legal in South Africa, though there are no hate crime protections for the country’s LGBT population.
Click here to sign the petition. So far, more than 240,000 people have signed. Avaaz has set a goal of 250,000.