difference was presumably because women in exile felt more secure in reporting the rape than those living within Zimbabwe. Other Zimbabwean studies have reported politically motivated rape. A study of the female members of the National Constitutional Assembly [NCA] reported that 8% of the sample of 231 alleged 53 politically motivated rape. An earlier study of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise [WOZA] did not find that rape was common, but 23% of the 1,983 women interviewed reported that they undergone degrading and humiliating treatment through the forced removal of their underwear whilst in 54 custody. Here it should be pointed out that the UN Convention Against Torture would not only regard actual rape as constituting a violation in terms of the Convention, but would also see forced stripping and humiliating treatment such as forced removal of underwear as falling within the ambit of the Convention. A third recent study, mainly concerned with psycho-social assistance to victims of organized violence and torture, reported that 5% of the sample of 102 survivors alleged politically 55 motivated rape. One of the obvious difficulties in making any clear statements about politically motivated rape is that of distinguishing one form of rape from another, although this is obviously a moot point for the victims. Earlier the distinctions between various forms of rape – forced cuncubinage, political rape, and genocidal rape – were outlined, and it not possible on the available reports to draw any clear conclusions about the prevalence of the different forms. However, it was reported in one study that all human rights violations, and including rape, were significantly more common in election months than at other times: abduction, attempted murder, death threats, disappearances, murder, political 56 discrimination, torture and rape were all more common during elections. Two further studies are helpful in understanding politically motivated rape in Zimbabwe. Both were published in late 2009, and both dealt with examinations of alleged rape victims amongst women in exile outside Zimbabwe. The first of these, by AidsFreeWorld, examined 70 alleged survivors, detailing 380 total acts of rape by 241 perpetrators; many of these rapes were by multiple perpetrators, mostly identified as supporters of ZANU PF, and, in many instances, could be clearly 57 identified by the victims. These women were interviewed in South Africa and Botswana, where they had fled into exile. Forty of the 70 women also reported that they had been severely assaulted, either before or after the rape, with sticks, electric cords, logs or metal rods. The second study, by the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, reported upon a 58 sample of 100 women that had applied for asylum, and who had alleged torture. Twelve of the sample came from Zimbabwe. What was noteworthy about the study was that 80 had been raped, and 78 of these had been raped by multiple perpetrators. Perhaps the only study from which some kind of inference can be drawn about the national prevalence of politically motivated rape comes from the national survey of women conducted by RAU, 59 Idasa and the International Center for Transitional Justice [ICTJ] in December 2009. Although this study cannot claim to be a randomized, stratified probability survey, it does provide the only national survey to date on women specifically. The sample of 2,149 women indicated that 2% had experienced politically motivated rape, which extrapolated to the general population is a very large number of women alleging rape. However, it should be borne in mind that the study did not ask for the time period of the rape to be specified and hence this figure must be seen rather as a “ lifetime” estimate, covering the period from the Liberation War up to the violence in 2008. 53 „Fighting for a New Constitution: Human Rights Violations experienced by Female Members of the National Constitutional Assembly.‟ 2010 page 7. 54 Women of Zimbabwe Arise, „The effects of fighting repression with love.‟ 2008 page 9. 55 Reeler T (2009), „A Research Note on the Effectiveness of the Tree of Life.‟ RAU 2009 page 5. 56 See again Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum „Can the elections in Zimbabwe be Free and Fair? „ 2008 page 20. 57 Aids-Free World „Electing to Rape. Sexual Terror in Mugabe‟s Zimbabwe‟ 2009 page 18. 58 Medical Foundation „Justice Denied: The experiences of 100 torture surviving women of seeking justice and rehabilitation‟ 59 Research and Advocacy Unit & National Constitutional Assembly 2009 page 4. RAU „Preying on the Weaker Sex: Political Violence Against Women in Zimbabwe‟ 2010 page 16.