that they were assulted and raped while mere children.
Now, let's see if I can address the big "BUT..." in your argument.
You seem to think that because the girls didn't report the rape/abuse, they bear some responsibility for it continuing. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth here, so correct me please if this is inaccurate.
You cite a specific example -- Mukhtara Mai -- to show what, I guess, you think SHOULD have occurred. While I think most people are in awe of the resolve and strength that Mukhtara Mai showed in facing her accusers and not simply accepting the trauma of being gang raped by some neighboring villagers, you need to understand, I think, that it is a rare person who has that kind of strength (especially so considering that she was a woman in a very male-dominated tribal society). Additionally, Mukhtara had her father and family behind her, supporting her in her pursuit of justice against those men.
The young girls in the UAE -- now young women -- endured nearly a decade of abuse by a man who was, for all intents and purposes, their step-father. Even their mother was complicit in the abuse. Given that they were victims of abuse at the hands of family members, can you understand that they perhaps felt quite alone in their suffering? Maybe their mother even portrayed it as something that they had to allow to continue or else they ALL would get into trouble (I mean, who knows what was said to who by whom -- I am merely speculating here -- but incest is, unfortunately, not a rare and isolated event, so we can make educated guesses about what might have happened for it to have been kept a secret for so very long).
The original article even states that the family moved around within the UAE once neighbors began to wonder about things. So again, the family is actively working against the truth coming to light by moving everyone somewhere else where nobody knows the girls and they have no friends/support from outside...
And don't forget that they were living in a society that has very harsh viewpoints about and consequences for sex outside of marriage. And being uneducated, they would have had to rely upon whatever their step-father and mother told them might happen to them if they ever did tell someone about the abuse (so if they were told he would kill them or that they would get thrown in jail if they told anyone, why WOULD they report it to the police? It's self-preservation to keep your mouth shut.).
Considering ALL of this...do you still think it is reasonable to expect them to have reported the abuse? One certainly wishes ALL victims were as strong as Mukhtara, but the reality is that they're not.
that they were assulted and raped while mere children.
Now, let's see if I can address the big "BUT..." in your argument.
You seem to think that because the girls didn't report the rape/abuse, they bear some responsibility for it continuing. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth here, so correct me please if this is inaccurate.
You cite a specific example -- Mukhtara Mai -- to show what, I guess, you think SHOULD have occurred. While I think most people are in awe of the resolve and strength that Mukhtara Mai showed in facing her accusers and not simply accepting the trauma of being gang raped by some neighboring villagers, you need to understand, I think, that it is a rare person who has that kind of strength (especially so considering that she was a woman in a very male-dominated tribal society). Additionally, Mukhtara had her father and family behind her, supporting her in her pursuit of justice against those men.
The young girls in the UAE -- now young women -- endured nearly a decade of abuse by a man who was, for all intents and purposes, their step-father. Even their mother was complicit in the abuse. Given that they were victims of abuse at the hands of family members, can you understand that they perhaps felt quite alone in their suffering? Maybe their mother even portrayed it as something that they had to allow to continue or else they ALL would get into trouble (I mean, who knows what was said to who by whom -- I am merely speculating here -- but incest is, unfortunately, not a rare and isolated event, so we can make educated guesses about what might have happened for it to have been kept a secret for so very long).
The original article even states that the family moved around within the UAE once neighbors began to wonder about things. So again, the family is actively working against the truth coming to light by moving everyone somewhere else where nobody knows the girls and they have no friends/support from outside...
And don't forget that they were living in a society that has very harsh viewpoints about and consequences for sex outside of marriage. And being uneducated, they would have had to rely upon whatever their step-father and mother told them might happen to them if they ever did tell someone about the abuse (so if they were told he would kill them or that they would get thrown in jail if they told anyone, why WOULD they report it to the police? It's self-preservation to keep your mouth shut.).
Considering ALL of this...do you still think it is reasonable to expect them to have reported the abuse? One certainly wishes ALL victims were as strong as Mukhtara, but the reality is that they're not.