7th November 2017

The world’s shame: The global rape epidemic

Around the world, rape and sexual abuse are everyday violent occurrences, affecting close to a billion women and girls over their lifetimes. However, despite the pervasiveness of these crimes, laws are insufficient, inconsistent, not systematically enforced, and sometimes promote violence.

To get to the bottom of these legal failures, Equality Now teamed up with international legal professionals to look into rape and sexual assault laws in 82 jurisdictions within 73 UN member states. If it were a medical disease, sexual violence would have serious attention and the funding to address it, from governments and independent donors alike.

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Key recommendations

In our February 2017 advocacy report, The world’s shame – The global rape epidemic: How laws around the world are failing to protect women and girls from sexual violence, we identify seven key gaps in global rape laws and call on governments and policymakers to fix them and to ensure justice for survivors of sexual violence.

The findings illustrate that governments still have a long way to go to transform their laws, policies, and practices into instruments to

  • Prevent sexual violence;
  • Provide better access to justice for victims (including specialised services); and
  • Effectively punish sexual violence crimes.

Explore more resources

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Advocacy framework for withdrawing reservations to some provisions of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

A practical advocacy framework by the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa in collaboration with Equality Now and the SOAWR Coalition, raising awareness on and encouraging states to withdraw reservations to the Maputo Protocol and ensure full protection of women’s rights across Africa.

Exploring the interlinkages between child marriage and family laws in South Asia

Equality Now’s report examines how gaps in child marriage and family laws across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives expose girls to harm and require urgent legal reform.

Legal response to sexual violence in Pakistan: Challenges in enforcement and access to justice

Equality Now’s report analyses gaps in Pakistan’s rape laws and justice system response, with recommendations to strengthen enforcement and survivor access to justice.

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