Submitted by crinadmin on
Each year thousands of women and girls in Jamaica are sexually assaulted in their communities, their schools, their workplaces, their homes and in the street. The state is failing to effectively prevent and investigate these abuses and also to punish the perpetrators. For many women and girls in Jamaica, domestic violence includes sexual violence, and women are not always protected from rape within marriage. Marital rape is not a statutory crime, meaning that prosecution is difficult. In addition, sexual violence is spreading sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Brenda’s husband was physically abusive, and she suspected he was having affairs. She asked him to wear a condom during sex but he refused. Despite knowing he was HIV positive, he regularly beat her and forced her to have unprotected sex. Brenda nursed him until he died. Now she is HIV positive, and fears prejudice and exclusion from her local community. In Jamaica, prosecution of marital rape, due to lack of clarity in the law and discrimination against women, is difficult if not impossible. Legislation does not adequately address incest or sexual abuse either. This leads to impunity for perpetrators of these crimes, and leaves women and girls without the clear protection of the law. Recommendations to make marital rape a statutory crime were incorporated into the draft Offences Against the Person Act in 1995, but this Act has still not been passed by Parliament. According to the current law, yet to be amended, sexual offences against girls over the age of 12 are punishable with a lesser sentence than sexual offences committed against younger children. By ignoring these issues, the Jamaican government is failing to protect Jamaican women from human rights abuses; and failing to implement the most basic obligations under international law.