When the price of water is sexual assault

Devex "In a village in Kenya, women wait to fill their jerrycans. While 2 Kenyan shillings ($0.01) should be payment enough, oftentimes the men operating the informal pumps, boreholes, or kiosks demand a higher price. Sometimes, it’s not just money they’re after. In many households that lack access to safe, readily available water at home, the responsibility of visiting the nearest clean water facility often falls to women and girls. But experts warn that leaves them vulnerable to harassment, sexual assault, or abuse. (...) Such acts of sextortion — defined by the International Association of Women Judges as “the abuse of power to obtain a sexual benefit or advantage” — for access to water have been recorded in Kenya, South Africa, and Colombia. Experts believe the practice is widespread elsewhere, too." (Photo: UNICEF Ethiopia/flickrCC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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