Sexual assault has become a common practice in the US military camps, an international lawyer tells Press TV, warning of traumatization of rape victims.
“Within the US Marines there is the practice…whereby new marine officers are actually sexually assaulted by other marines,” Alfred Lambremont Webre said on Monday.
He added that “reported sexual assaults in the US military” in 2013 were up 50 percent from a year before.
Quoting the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Webre said “85,000 US veterans received treatment for sexual abuse trauma…in 2013.”
On Saturday, US President Barack Obama called on the Americans to help put an end to growing number of sexual assaults in the military.
There were more than 5,000 reports of sexual assault filed during the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2013, in comparison with 3,374 in 2012.
The US Defense Department estimated that reported cases of sexual abuse in the military increased nearly 40 percent in 2012 to about 26,000 cases from 19,000 in 2011.
A newly-published investigation, reported by The Washington Post on Monday, reveals that many cases of misconduct involve US generals and admirals.
The paper said it has obtained military files that add to “a litany of revelations about misbehaving brass that have dogged the Pentagon over the past 15 months and tarnished the reputation of US military leadership.”
KA/HMV/SS
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