CIAO DATE: 09/2013
April 2013
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
As many as seven in ten women in the world report experiencing physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime. The impact of sexual violence on health, productivity, economy and a country’s ability to achieve its development goals is well documented. States have a responsibility to enact and enforce laws that protect their citizens from sexual violence. Where protection fails, there is a responsibility to provide survivors with the requisite services to address the physiological, psychological consequences and ensure they receive positive justice outcomes. However, few countries have the policy, legal environments and service infrastructure to respond or influence uptake of health, social and justice related services by survivors of sexual violence. For example, 127 countries still do not have effective laws on marital rape even though it is a crime under international law. Cultural beliefs and societal responses can be major barriers to victims seeking help post assault. A range of sectors are required to deliver services to survivors of sexual violence including health, criminal justice and social services. In many countries around the world, post rape care is often fragmented, of limited scope, coverage and quality, focusing mainly on immediate clinical care with poor medico-legal linkages, with limited attention given to mental health needs of survivors and service providers . Follow up and long-term management of sexual and reproductive health including HIV outcomes of survivors is severely lacking.
Resource link: Policy and practice requirements for bringing to scale sexual violence services in low resource settings. [PDF] - 233K