The international community has learned with shock of the 1750 farm murders that occurred in South Africa since 1994.
Ernst Roets, Deputy CEO of AfriForum, and Lorraine Claasen, researcher and criminologist at the civil rights organization, attended the 15th International Symposium of the World Society of Victimology in Perth, Australia, for the purpose of enlightening the international community about the extent and severity of farm murders in South Africa.
Claasen said the message they want to convey is to ask the international community’s help to put pressure on the South African government to take real action against this brutal crime.
About 300 international symposium delegates, including doctors, students, researchers and social scientists attended the meeting which ends Thursday.
Claasen said after her presentation there were many questions and responses from the audience. “Delegates were generally very shocked by the level of violence in the attacks and were of the opinion that what we described is not robbery.”
“They also wanted to know what kind of support is available for victims and whether the victims are willing to go for counseling. There were also many questions about what the government is doing about farm murders in the country.”
According to Claasen it was clear that many delegates were not aware of the scope of farm attacks and murders, despite reports that are published in the Australian media.
Roets and Claasen came into contact at the conference with South Africans who moved to Australia and explained that they were not prepared to raise their children in such a violent country.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
