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Sexual Violence
auf Deutsch
A woman receives psychological and medical treatment in a clinic to assist rape victims in Freetown. In
January 1999, she was gang-raped by seven rebels in her village in northern Sierra Leone. After raping her,
the rebels tied her down and placed burning charcoal on her body. © 1999 Corinne Dufka/Human Rights Watch
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Women everywhere are sexually assaulted, and their attackers enjoy impunity. Sexual violence against women happens at an alarming rate, in times of peace and during armed conflict. In the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, these brutal attacks can also be deadly. Often, women are silenced by the stigma attached to sexual violence, but increasingly they are speaking out and demanding accountability for these crimes. Police and other law enforcement authorities are quick to dismiss rape and other forms of sexual violence as unimportant crimes provoked by the victims themselves. Under international law, governments have a duty to respond effectively to violence against women, including rape.
Human Rights Watch has found that Russian government officials reject complaints from victims, refuse to investigate rape, neglect to refer victims to forensic doctors for evidence collection, and drop cases when they believe the victim is “at fault.” Similarly, in Pakistan, women who attempt to file rape charges face police harassment and disbelief, and may themselves face arrest and prosecution for engaging in extramarital sex. Women in India face daunting obstacles in prosecuting rape cases, beginning with lodging reports with the local police to confronting judges’ insensitivity to their plight. If an Indian woman is poor, belongs to a lower caste, or lives in a rural area, it is even more difficult for her to access the justice system.
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