Equality Bahamas accuses govt of being ‘cowardly’ on marital rape issue

February 4, 2025 – The Nassau Guardian

Equality Bahamas founder and co-director Alicia Wallace featured in The Nassau Guardian on February 4,  2025.

From The Nassau Guardian:

Equality Bahamas labeled the government “cowardly” after Attorney General Ryan Pinder admitted that it is unlikely that legislation to criminalize marital rape will come this term, suggesting concerns over the potential impact on the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) reelection chances.

In a statement yesterday, Equality Bahamas said parliamentarians – including the opposition – are “the arbiters” of violence against women in their repeated failures to move forward with legislation to address the issue in The Bahamas.

“Gender-based violence against women and girls continues to make news headlines causing temporary public upset while the government of The Bahamas, including the opposition, remains unmoved,” it said.

“The current administration is too cowardly to do what it ought by criminalizing marital rape and sees no danger in plainly stating that it is massaging the egos of anti-rights groups – masquerading as religious leaders – in exchange for votes at the expense of women’s lives.

“Members of Parliament are the arbiters of structural violence against women, actively choosing to abandon the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill, drafted in 2022, only to fail to pass the gender-based violence bill it attempted to use as a distraction.

“The comfort of every sitting member of Parliament in the silence on marital rape is indicative of misogyny and self-interest.”

The Bahamas is one of only a few countries on this side of the globe that does not have legislation to recognize that women can be raped by their husbands.

Section 3 of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act defines rape as “the act of any person not under fourteen years of age having sexual intercourse with another person who is not his spouse without the consent of that person …”

The matter continues to be identified as one of the country’s key human rights issues, and though repeated governments have pledged to address it, none have.

The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which went out for consultation more than two years ago, would repeal section three of the current law by removing the words “who is not a spouse” from the definition of rape.

However, the bill has not progressed past the consultation phase and has not been tabled in Parliament.

Asked last week about plans to move forward with the legislation, Pinder said the consultations suggested there “wasn’t yet a consensus and more education and consultation is necessary.”

When asked whether there is a concern about losing votes, the attorney general said, “I think every administration in the history of The Bahamas who has put this on the table and had it in front of it is worried about the same issue. There’s nothing unique about this. … There is a reason that no administration has passed it and every single administration has drafted a bill, every single one.”

Equality Bahamas Director Alicia Wallace said legislators represent the “most stubborn barriers” in the effort.

“They must be soundly rejected and dismissed from the duties they refuse to carry out,” she said.

She also noted that The Bahamas continues to be out of compliance with the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which The Bahamas ratified in 1993.

Wallace said The Bahamas “continues to ignore the specific recommendations made to bring the country”.

“The CEDAW Committee, in its recommendation in 2018, called for adoption of the gender-based violence bill, criminalization of marital rape, and the investigation and prosecution of gender-based violence cases,” she said.

“We remind the government of The Bahamas that the ratification of CEDAW is a commitment to the women and girls of The Bahamas. It is not contingent on personal opinions, pressure from anti-rights groups, or general election concerns.

“Criminalization of marital rape and passing the gender-based violence bill are clear actions.

“The bills are drafted, and it is only left for the attorney general, minister of social services, and prime minister to champion them and members of Parliament to acknowledge, with their votes, that gender-based violence must end.

“It is not complicated.”