Prosecuting Sexual Violence and Rape
By Natasha Latiff
Sharing Resources ranging from Inquiry Reports to bibliographies, videos, innovative projects, and reflective questions on prosecuting sexual violence and rape.
As advocates, activists, writers and lawyers, we must conscientiously monitor and evaluate our society and ourselves. Our goals should not just be that rape and sexual violence are prosecuted. But they are prosecuted for the right reasons. Our analyses must de-link women’s bodies as sites of men’s honour and tackle the manifold biases and assumptions that complicate rape cases. And we must do this carefully so as not to alarm the community who may believe that our defence of women’s autonomy is a promotion of “immoral” values.
A gender-competent articulation of law is the duty of lawyers in courts, journalists in the media and the activists in the community. Our analyses must be well-thought out, scrutinized by our own peers, packed and unpacked. If we omit questioning ourselves, our own strategies can backfire and reproduce other forms of gender-discrimination. What we say sets a precedent. So by our choices, we transform the way rape and sexual violence in conceptualized and prosecuted.
If it is not upon us, then upon whom; and if not now, then when
The danger is that being placed on the agenda does not confirm a place on the hierarchy
Who interprets the law is at least as important as who makes the law…
The only darkness we should allow into our lives is the night, and even then, we have the moon.
16 Ways to Stop Violence Against Women
Natasha Latiff with Christine Karumba from Women for Women International, DRC.
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