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This website belongs the national organization, Equality Now. It brings up the fact that in many countries, women and girls are denied the same legal rights as men and boys, and how many countries also have laws that fail to protect the rights of the women that have been subjected to sexual assault. The website says about the issues with this which is that it prevents victims from getting justice, and can let sexual predators roam free. This is a really prominent issue that needs to be corrected because it is not okay that is the 21st century, there are still countries that do not view women and men as equals in the legal system. If the laws of a country do not protect the rights of every citizen equally, it is not doing a proper job, and if the laws are not protecting women, then they are being used to subordinate them.

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CONTACT: Tara Carey, Equality Now Media Relations Manager tcarey@equalitynow.org, M: +44 (0)7971 556 340 W: +44 (0)20 7304 6902

In 'The World's Shame - the Global Rape Epidemic: How Laws Around the World are Failing to Protect Women and Girls from Sexual Violence' Equality Now has looked at laws to protect women and girls against sexual violence in 82 jurisdictions within 73 UN member states and Palestine.

Equality Now aims to show a general picture of rape laws in the legal systems surveyed and has used the UN Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women as the benchmark by which to measure these laws.

Despite some positive developments, our research has found that gender discrimination remains widespread and there are numerous examples where women and girls are denied the same legal rights as men and boys. In addition, some laws are poorly conceived and so fail to protect or promote the rights of those who have been subjected to sexual attack.

There are also circumstances in which decent laws exist but aren't being well implemented. Having strong laws in place is crucial but to it is also vitally important that they are correctly applied to ensure that victims get the positive legal outcome they deserve.

Bad laws prevent victims from gaining access to justice, and can enable perpetrators of sexual violence to avoid appropriate punishment.

Equality Now concludes that there is still much that needs to be done to guarantee that adequate laws are enacted, developed and enforced.

To help bring about much needed legal change, we are launching a petition calling on equality to be made a reality, to be delivered to all governments before the June 2017 UN Human Rights Council meeting. We are asking them to take a comprehensive look at their laws relating to rape, sexual violence and abuse, and to amend the following:

Laws allowing the perpetrator to walk free on reaching some form of "settlement", including by marrying the victim

Laws framed in terms of morality rather than bodily integrity, thereby perpetuating a cycle of violence and discrimination

Laws that explicitly permit rape in marriage, even of children

Laws permitting judicial discretion to reduce charges or define evidence based on stereotyped assessment of the complainant's behaviour

Laws that fail to recognise true consent is impossible in situations of dependency or extreme vulnerability

Laws or practices inhibiting investigation or prosecution of sexual assault

Laws requiring witness corroboration and other overly burdensome evidence

Antonia Kirkland, Legal Equality Program Manager and author of the report, said: "Most countries are signatories to key international human rights conventions and have constitutions that guarantee equality on the basis of sex. This means that governments should be doing all they can to stop sexual violence, and there should be no legal barriers preventing women and girls from accessing justice through the criminal court system if their rights are violated. While there has been some progress, the discriminatory rape laws highlighted in Equality Now's report demonstrate how governments around the world often view women as second class citizens, and still have work to do to live up to their commitments." Yasmeen Hassan, Global Executive Director of Equality Now, said: "Unless governments fix their laws on rape and sexual assault and implement them effectively and sensitively, we are unlikely to see an end to the worldwide abuse of women and girls anytime soon."
ENDS

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How rape laws around the world are failing to protect women and girls from sexual violence

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CONTACT: Tara Carey, Equality Now Media Relations Manager tcarey@equalitynow.org, M: +44 (0)7971 556 340 W: +44 (0)20 7304 6902 In 'The World's Shame - the Global Rape Epidemic: How Laws Around the World are Failing to Protect Women and Girls from Sexual Violence' Equality Now has looked at laws to protect women and girls against sexual violence in 82 jurisdictions within 73 UN member states and Palestine.

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This website explores India’s laws regarding marital rape. It talks about how the India law Journal defines Marital Rape as “unwanted intercourse by a man with his wife obtained by force, threat of force, or physical violence, or when she is unable to give consent” it also states that “Marital rape could be by the use of force only, a battering rape or a sadistic/obsessive rape.” Although the definition itself sounds horrible and intimidating, it is a legal action in India because the Indian Penal Code has an exemption in it regarding rape that states that “Sexual intercourse by  man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape.” This is absolutely absurd, and the  fact that women who are being raped by their husbands in India are not able to seek help is concrete evidence of how the rape laws of these countries subordinate women because it essentially forces women to comply to their husbands and be treated as objects rather than people.

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Marital Raperefers to unwanted intercourse by a man with his wife obtained by force, threat of force, or physical violence, or when she is unable to give consent. Marital rape could be by the use of force only, a battering rape or a sadistic/obsessive rape. It is a non-consensual act of violent perversion by a husband against the wife where she is physically and sexually abused.

Approximations have quoted that every 6 hours; a young married woman is burnt or beaten to death, or driven to suicide from emotional abuse by her husband. The UN Population Fund states that more than 2/3rds of married women in India, aged between 15 to 49 have been beaten, raped or forced to provide sex. In 2005, 6787 cases were recorded of women murdered by their husbands or their husbands' families. 56% of Indian women believed occasional wife-beating to be justified.

Historically, " Raptus ", the generic term of rape was to imply violent theft, applied to both property and person. It was synonymous with abduction and a woman's abduction or sexual molestation, was merely the theft of a woman against the consent of her guardian or those with legal power over her. The harm, ironically, was treated as a wrong against her father or husband, women being wholly owned subsidiaries.

The marital rape exemption can be traced to statements by Sir Mathew Hale, Chief Justice in England, during the 1600s. He wrote, "The husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract, the wife hath given herself in kind unto the husband, whom she cannot retract."

Not surprisingly, thus, married women were never the subject of rape laws. Laws bestowed an absolute immunity on the husband in respect of his wife, solely on the basis of the marital relation. The revolution started with women activists in America raising their voices in the 1970s for elimination of marital rape exemption clause and extension of guarantee of equal protection to women.

In the present day, studies indicate that between 10 and 14% of married women are raped by their husbands: the incidents of marital rape soars to 1/3rd to ½ among clinical samples of battered women. Sexual assault by one's spouse accounts for approximately 25% of rapes committed. Women who became prime targets for marital rape are those who attempt to flee. Criminal charges of sexual assault may be triggered by other acts, which may include genital contact with the mouth or anus or the insertion of objects into the vagina or the anus, all without the consent of the victim. It is a conscious process of intimidation and assertion of the superiority of men over women.

Advancing well into the timeline, marital rape is not an offence in India. Despite amendments, law commissions and new legislations, one of the most humiliating and debilitating acts is not an offence in India. A look at the options a woman has to protect herself in a marriage, tells us that the legislations have been either non-existent or obscure and everything has just depended on the interpretation by Courts.

Section 375, the provision of rape in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), has echoing very archaic sentiments, mentioned as its exception clause- "Sexual intercourse by man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape." Section 376 of IPC provides punishment for rape. According to the section, the rapist should be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than 7 years but which may extend to life or for a term extending up to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine unless the woman raped is his own wife, and is not under 12 years of age, in which case, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 2 years with fine or with both.

This section in dealing with sexual assault, in a very narrow purview lays down that, an offence of rape within marital bonds stands only if the wife be less than 12 years of age, if she be between 12 to 16 years, an offence is committed, however, less serious, attracting milder punishment. Once, the age crosses 16, there is no legal protection accorded to the wife, in direct contravention of human rights regulations.

How can the same law provide for the legal age of consent for marriage to be 18 while protecting form sexual abuse, only those up to the age of 16? Beyond the age of 16, there is no remedy the woman has.

The wife's role has traditionally been understood as submissive, docile and that of a homemaker. Sex has been treated as obligatory in a marriage and also taboo. Atleast the discussion openly of it, hence, the awareness remains dismal. Economic independence, a dream for many Indian women still is an undeniably important factor for being heard and respected. With the women being fed the bitter medicine of being "good wives", to quietly serve and not wash dirty linen in public, even counseling remains inaccessible.

Legislators use results of research studies as an excuse against making marital rape an offence, which indicates that many survivors of marital rape, report flash back, sexual dysfunction, emotional pain, even years out of the violence and worse, they sometimes continue living with the abuser. For these reasons, even the latest report of the Law Commission has preferred to adhere to its earlier opinion of non-recognition of "rape within the bonds of marriage" as such a provision may amount top excessive interference wit the marital relationship.

A marriage is a bond of trust and that of affection. A husband exercising sexual superiority, by getting it on demand and through any means possible, is not part of the institution. Surprisingly, this is not, as yet, in any law book in India.

The very definition of rape (section 375 of IPC) demands change. The narrow definition has been criticized by Indian and international women's and children organizations, who insist that including oral sex, sodomy and penetration by foreign objects within the meaning of rape would not have been inconsistent with nay constitutional provisions, natural justice or equity. Even international law now says that rape may be accepted a s the "sexual penetration, not just penal penetration, but also threatening, forceful, coercive use of force against the victim, or the penetration by any object, however slight." Article 2 of the Declaration of the Elimination of Violence against Women includes marital rape explicitly in the definition of violence against women. Emphasis on these provisions is not meant to tantalize, but to give the victim and not the criminal, the benefit of doubt.

Marital rape is illegal in 18 American States, 3 Australian States, New Zealand, Canada, Israel, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Rape in any form is an act of utter humiliation, degradation and violation rather than an outdated concept of penile/vaginal penetration. Restricting an understanding of rape reaffirms the view that rapists treat rape as sex and not violence and hence, condone such behaviour.

The importance of consent for every individual decision cannot be over emphasized. A woman can protect her right to life and liberty, but not her body, within her marriage, which is just ironical. Women so far have had recourse only to section 498-A of the IPC, dealing with cruelty, to protect themselves against "perverse sexual conduct by the husband". But, where is the standard of measure or interpretation for the courts, of 'perversion' or 'unnatural', the definitions within intimate spousal relations? Is excessive demand for sex perverse? Isn't consent a sine qua non? Is marriage a license to rape? There is no answer, because the judiciary and the legislature have been silent.

The 172nd Law Commission report had made the following recommendations for substantial change in the law with regard to rape.

1. 'Rape' should be replaced by the term 'sexual assault'.

2. 'Sexual intercourse as contained in section 375 of IPC should include all forms of penetration such as penile/vaginal, penile/oral, finger/vaginal, finger/anal and object/vaginal.

3. In the light of Sakshi v. Union of India and Others [2004 (5) SCC 518], 'sexual assault on any part of the body should be construed as rape.

4. Rape laws should be made gender neutral as custodial rape of young boys has been neglected by law.

5. A new offence, namely section 376E with the title 'unlawful sexual conduct' should be created.

6. Section 509 of the IPC was also sought to be amended, providing higher punishment where the offence set out in the said section is committed with sexual intent.

7. Marital rape: explanation (2) of section 375 of IPC should be deleted. Forced sexual intercourse by a husband with his wife should be treated equally as an offence just as any physical violence by a husband against the wife is treated as an offence. On the same reasoning, section 376 A was to be deleted.

8. Under the Indian Evidence Act (IEA), when alleged that a victim consented to the sexual act and it is denied, the court shall presume it to be so.

The much awaited Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DVA) has also been a disappointment. It has provided civil remedies to what the provision of cruelty already gave criminal remedies, while keeping the status of the matter of marital rape in continuing disregard. Section 3 of the Domestic Violence Act, amongst other things in the definition of domestic violence, has included any act causing harm, injury, anything endangering health, life, etc., ... mental, physical, or sexual.

It condones sexual abuse in a domestic relationship of marriage or a live-in, only if it is life threatening or grievously hurtful. It is not about the freedom of decision of a woman's wants. It is about the fundamental design of the marital institution that despite being married, she retains and individual status, where she doesn't need to concede to every physical overture even though it is only be her husband. Honour and dignity remains with an individual, irrespective of marital status.

Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act prevents communication during marriage from being disclosed in court except when one married partner is being persecuted for n offence against the other. Since, marital rape is not an offence, the evidence is inadmissible, although relevant, unless it is a prosecution for battery, or some related physical or mental abuse under the provision of cruelty. Setting out to prove the offence of marital rape in court, combining the provisions of the DVA and IPC will be a nearly impossible task.

The trouble is, it has been accepted that a marital relationship is practically sacrosanct. Rather than, making the wife worship the husband's every whim, especially sexual, it is supposed to thrive n mutual respect and trust. It is much more traumatic being a victim of rape by someone known, a family member, and worse to have to cohabit with him. How can the law ignore such a huge violation of a fundamental right of freedom of any married woman, the right to her body, to protect her from any abuse?

As a final piece of argument to show the pressing need for protection of woman, here are some effects a rape victim may have to live with,-

Physical injuries to vaginal and anal areas, lacerations, bruising.

Anxiety, shock, depression and suicidal thoughts.

Gynecological effects including miscarriage, stillbirths, bladder infections, STDs and infertility.

Long drawn symptoms like insomnia, eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, and negative self image.

Marriage does not thrive on sex and the fear of frivolous litigation should not stop protection from being offered to those caught in abusive traps, where they are denigrated to the status of chattel. Apart form judicial awakening; we primarily require generation of awareness. Men are the perpetrators of this crime. 'Educating boys and men to view women as valuable partners in life, in the development of society and the attainment of peace are just as important as taking legal steps protect women's human rights', says the UN. Men have the social, economic, moral, political, religious and social responsibility to combat all forms of gender discrimination.

In a country rife with misconceptions of rape, deeply ingrained cultural and religious stereotypes, and changing social values, globalization has to fast alter the letter of law.

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Marital Raperefers to unwanted intercourse by a man with his wife obtained by force, threat of force, or physical violence, or when she is unable to give consent. Marital rape could be by the use of force only, a battering rape or a sadistic/obsessive rape.

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The article in this website talks about the shocking statistics regarding rape and the laws surrounding it found by the presented by Equality Now. It turns out India is not the only country that allows maritial rape, after reviewing the laws of 82 countries, they found 10 nations where it is completely legal to rape your spouse. To make things worse some of those countries, there is no age limit to getting married, meaning that someone can marry a child and it is then legal for them to rape than child. 12% of the countries reviewed allow women to be raped by their husband and that definitely exhibits the lack of power women have in these countries, and how the rape laws of those countries contribute to that.

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The women's rights organization surveyed the laws of each of the 82 countries between 2014 and 2015. They found laws expressly allowing for spousal rape in Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. In four of these countries, it is permitted even when the victim is a child.

Ghanaian law, for example, states that "consent given by husband or wife at marriage, for the purposes of marriage, cannot be revoked," unless the parties are divorced or legally separated. In Lesotho, spousal rape is only illegal if the perpetrator also uses abusive language, violence, or threats.

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In a review of the laws of 82 countries, Equality Now found 10 nations in which forcing your spouse into sex is perfectly legal.

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The women's rights organization surveyed the laws of each of the 82 countries between 2014 and 2015. They found laws expressly allowing for spousal rape in Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. In four of these countries, it is permitted even when the victim is a child.

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This video is about the married life of a woman named Sharmila Maruya. It shows the lives that women are forced to lead in countries where marital rape is legal. They are essentially subjected to a life of being an object their husbands because the laws of their country do not protect them, rather, they subordinate them.

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A Body of Pain – Questioning Marital Rape

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Although there are many countries that still have rape laws that subordinate women rather than protect them, there are also countries attempting to make progress and fix their laws. Lebanon has repealed a law that allowed rapists to to get out of being punished by marrying their victim, The are the latest in a bunch of countries in that region to reverse such provisions because of protests and pressure form women’s rights groups. Hopefully,  in the next few years the all the laws of every country will effectively protect the rights of all their citizens.

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Activists celebrate in Beirut as Lebanon scraps reviled rape law

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This video is about something that happened in North America. After sexually assaulting a girl behind a dumpster, Brock Turner was sentenced to just six months in jail followed with three years of probation after. To make things even worse, he was released after a mere 3 months. This case shows the lack of justice that women get when it comes to being victims of sexual assault, even in such a developed place like North America.

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Brock Turner released from jail after serving 3 months for sexual assault

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Carey, T. (2017, March 06). How rape laws around the world are failing to protect women and girls from sexual violence. Retrieved April 06, 2018, from https://www.equalitynow.org/press-clips/how-rape-laws-around-world-are-failing-protect-women-and-girls-sexual-violence

Rath, P. (n.d.). Marital Rape and the Indian legal scenario. Retrieved April 06, 2018, from http://www.indialawjournal.org/archives/volume2/issue_2/article_by_priyanka.html

Shugerman, E. (2017, March 06). In a review of the laws of 82 countries, Equality Now found 10 nations in which forcing your spouse into sex is perfectly legal. Retrieved April 06, 2018, from http://www.revelist.com/world/countries-marital-rape-legal/7073/in-a-review-of-the-laws-of-82-countries-equality-now-found-10-nations-in-which-forcing-your-spouse-into-sex-is-perfectly-legal/1

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Equality now published a Report on rap after reviewing surveys on sexual violence laws submitted by legal professionals in 82 jurisdictions-including within 73 UN member states-around the world. They found  seven gaps in rape and sexual assault laws that they hope to get the countries to amend. These gaps are profound and have no place in any civilized society.

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This pictures focuses on marital rape. It explain shows statistics, impact and explain what it is is. The fact that is is legal in many countries puts women in a lower place of power than men, which needs to be amended.

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Our final image is in honour of Amina Filali. An article about her story was discussed in our earlier modules. Amina was was a 16-year-old girl from Larache, Morocco, who committed suicide by taking rat poison in 2012 after she was forced to marry her rapist. She did it because he was beating her and she had no way out, even as she was dying, he dragged her down the street by her hair in anger because of what she hand done. This young girl should not have been subjected to any of that and it is important that we do something to make a change and help other girls that are in the same, or a similar situation. R.I.P