Chris Brown is Sorry

20- year old hip- hop artist, Chris Brown, has released a video apologizing for violently abusing his then girlfriend, the singer, Rihanna.



Sadly for him, he has a lot to be sorry for. According to the report filed, Chris Brown strangled Rihanna and hit her so severely that she bled from the mouth and endured several bruises.

The case highlights the prevailing problem of violence against women, and in particular domestic and dating abuse, even in developed and democratic countries like the United States. In United States, a woman is raped every 6 minutes and battered every 15 seconds. In most cases, the perpetrator knows his victim and has witnessed or personally experienced abuse in the past - Chris Brown was no exception, he saw the effects of domestic violence in his own family.

While the United States has a federal law, the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, it has not legally committed itself to the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination Against the Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), putting it in a league of nations that includes Afghanistan, Iran, and Sudan. Although the United States has signed CEDAW, America is not bound by international law to respect women's rights, until it ratifies the convention.