“One slogan from a civil society marketing campaign in Jordan as soon as learn, ‘my dowry (cash for the bride) was rape,’” stated Wafa Bani Mustafa, Jordan’s Minister of Social Growth, on the launch of Equality Now’s regional report on rape laws in Arab states on Tuesday, 9 September.
“This slogan highlighted the grim actuality that survivors, even when married beneath this legislation, have been usually denied their fundamental rights, akin to dowry.”
The minister was referring to the “marry your rapist” legal guidelines as soon as current in a number of Arab nations. In Jordan, the legislation was repealed in 2017 following main campaigns, and comparable repeals have taken place in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Morocco. But the follow nonetheless lingers informally, outdoors the authorized system.
In different nations the place it stays, the legislation allows rapists to keep away from prosecution, or obtain lowered sentences, by marrying their victims, successfully legalizing pressured marriage beneath the guise of “restoring honor.” Because the minister famous, even inside marriage, survivors are denied their full rights as human beings and as ladies, usually left with no recourse.
To protect her “honor,” a survivor is pressured to relive her trauma, give up her rights, and watch her rapist escape justice. However ought to honor override justice and humanity? Ought to household and societal honor weigh greater than the rights of the sufferer?
And, above all, what does “honor” imply when a girl’s personal sense of dignity and self-worth are not acknowledged or protected?
These questions have been on the coronary heart of the launch of the new regional report, which befell in Cairo and included the participation of Fadia Kiwan, Director Common of the Arab Girls Group, Dima Dabbous, regional consultant for Equality Now, and Egyptian lawyer Azza Soliman on the Centre for Egyptian Girls’s Authorized Help (CEWLA).
The report doesn’t goal to guage the effectiveness or enforcement of rape laws in Arab states. As an alternative, it begins on the basis, analyzing how rape resists clear authorized categorization, notably because the idea of “honor” stays one of the crucial contested points.
“The problem isn’t solely about passing legal guidelines, nor about implementing them, although enforcement is commonly the weakest hyperlink,” stated Fadia Kiwan on the high-level occasion. “The actual problem lies in remodeling social attitudes and mindsets to acknowledge ladies and women as human beings.”
What Are the Gaps within the Legislation?
Does rape imply solely the absence of consent? Does it require bodily drive? Or is it narrowly outlined to contain only one physique half?
A serious hole within the legal frameworks of all Arab nations lies within the failure to completely outline rape in a means that encompasses all instances. The definition is essential, because it determines how a sufferer or survivor can report their case and search justice.
As an illustration, in Algeria, Bahrain, Libya and different authorized techniques the place rape is outlined strictly as involving using drive, the burden usually falls on victims to supply bodily proof, akin to bruises, to show that the perpetrator used violence.
Nonetheless, in response to the Conference on the Elimination of All Types of Discrimination in opposition to Girls (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN Common Meeting, rape should be outlined on the premise of the absence of consent, reasonably than bodily violence or resistance. The definition should embody all types of non-consensual penetration, whatever the organ, physique half, or instrument used, in addition to the intercourse of both the perpetrator or the sufferer, or the connection between them.
But no Arab nation has a legislation that totally displays this normal or acknowledges the wide selection of circumstances, akin to exploitation of vulnerability, belief, affect, or dependence, that may invalidate consent.
“Even when there seems to be ‘consent,’ it might happen in a context of energy imbalance, coercion, or manipulation. That’s not real consent, and legally it can’t be thought-about consent,” stated Dabbous on the occasion. “Courts should look at whether or not consent was really given freely.”
Broadly, the report highlights three predominant issues: unclear definitions, exceptions constructed into these definitions, and legal guidelines that don’t heart on the idea of consent.
Firstly, by way of terminology, the report found that rape is commonly categorised beneath classes akin to “acts opposite to decency” or “offenses in opposition to honor.” In consequence, the crime is framed as an offense in opposition to morals, honor, or public order, reasonably than as a violation of the person; an assault on the sufferer’s bodily integrity and sexual autonomy.
“One dangerous consequence of such terminology is that, as a substitute of being acknowledged because the sufferer of a heinous crime, the survivor is seen as somebody who has introduced disgrace on her household or group,” Dabbous defined. “She is blamed, as if she have been at fault, reasonably than acknowledged as a sufferer.”
A assessment of penal codes throughout the 22 Arab nations reveals a variety of phrases used to explain rape, together with “intercourse with out consent,” “sexual act,” “copulation,” “violation of chastity,” and “violation of decency.”
Such terminology, nonetheless, reflects cultural biases in how ladies’s roles are perceived, usually prioritizing notions of honor and morality over the dignity and rights of the sufferer.
The definitions themselves are additionally extremely restrictive, Dabbous notes. In lots of nations, akin to Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco and others, rape is outlined as a criminal offense requiring a male perpetrator, a feminine sufferer, and vaginal penetration. Something outdoors this scope is excluded from the authorized definition of rape, usually downgraded to “sexual assault” and carrying lighter penalties.
Tunisia was offered for example of a extra progressive strategy, as rape is outlined as “any act that results in sexual penetration, no matter its nature or the means used, in opposition to a feminine or a male, with out consent.”
Egypt’s recognition of consent as central to the definition of rape marks progress in comparison with many jurisdictions within the area. But vital gaps stay in follow, as whereas consent ought to, in idea, be the defining issue, judicial interpretations usually proceed to prioritize bodily proof, the report notes.
Even in instances the place rape is outlined on the premise of consent, victims and survivors are sometimes nonetheless required to bear forensic testing. These exams are usually used to find out whether or not drive was concerned.
“It’s nearly unattainable to refer a rape case to trial with out a forensic report. And even when the prosecution have been to ship a case to courtroom with out one, the courtroom would nonetheless demand it,” an nameless Egyptian decide explained within the report.
Virginity testing, an invasive and scientifically discredited practice, continues to be carried out in some jurisdictions beneath the pretext of validating a survivor’s claims. Survivors are sometimes pressured to claim their virginity to realize credibility, but this may be turned in opposition to them if a medical report suggests in any other case.
“Though virginity has no authorized relevance, some victims really feel compelled to assert it for respect, which might backfire legally,” an nameless Egyptian lawyer noted within the report. “If there was no proof of drive or violence and the sufferer was not a virgin however claimed she was, the protection might argue the act was consensual.”
One other main hole is the absence of express recognition of marital rape. In some instances, courts dismiss complaints outright or downgrade them to minor assault. In Egypt, as an example, pressured sexual activity inside marriage has been classified not as rape however as hurt, carrying solely minimal penalties.
Whereas the occasion didn’t particularly deal with instances of rape in battle or battle zones, or the wide selection of violations dedicated in opposition to Palestinian ladies, males, women, and boys throughout Palestine since October 2023, it did acknowledge the necessity to confront these realities and take into account methods ahead.
“Some Arab states have already proven management,” Kiwan famous. “Iraq, for instance, started compensating Yazidi ladies survivors financially, later increasing the initiative to incorporate different communities. It is a step in the suitable route.”
The best way to Transfer Ahead?
Whereas defining rape is a prerequisite for closing gaps within the system, the method of implementing the legislation presents one other set of challenges, involving many further elements.
For Egyptian lawyer Azza Soliman, the problem begins with guaranteeing that laws isn’t handled as a symbolic gesture, however as a real step towards systemic change.
“At any time when governments really feel strain, they rush to draft legal guidelines for girls. Girls are used symbolically, as a fast repair. It is a main downside,” she stated through the launch occasion.
The survivor and the sufferer have to be on the heart, embraced with solidarity and supported all through the system, Soliman emphasised. “We lack a authorized system educated to cope with us. Think about a girl strolling right into a station, carrying her trauma on her shoulders, afraid even of being touched on the door. She must be handled with dignity.”
One other barrier, she famous, is that ladies usually select to not report assaults as a result of they have been at a celebration or out with buddies, that are circumstances that, in Arab tradition, are too usually used as excuses guilty them.
“She introduced it upon herself,” some individuals would say, pointing to her garments or her conduct. “So, implementation is deeply tied to customs, traditions, and the very establishments chargeable for implementing the legislation,” Soliman added.
One other main problem extends past the method of submitting a grievance to the implications and aftermath, particularly, how victims and survivors are handled inside society, notably in family-related instances.
Kuwaiti lawyer Athra Al Refai recounted through the occasion engaged on a case during which a lady was raped by her father. “We needed to secretly report proof to show it. He was finally sentenced to demise. However the woman now lives in a shelter, as a result of her household blames her for ‘destroying the household’ and refuses to take her again,” she stated.
From reforming authorized definitions of rape to specializing in prevention, coaching, and difficult dangerous stereotypes, the occasion emphasised that, above all, open discussions and dialogue are important to advance the dialog throughout the area.
“We see this as a possibility to return collectively on a subject that, till very just lately, few stakeholders, decision-makers, or consultants have been keen to debate collectively,” Kiwan added.
“Earlier than we discuss quotas, parliamentary seats, or bettering entry to the financial system, society should first guarantee ladies’s safety.”