Bishop: Marital Rape Move Made in Bad Faith (The Tribune)
Jan. 19, 2018 – The Tribune
Equality Bahamas founder and co-director Alicia Wallace featured in The Tribune on January 19, 2018.
From The Tribune:
Other organisations, such as Equality Bahamas, yesterday slammed the proposed changes as an attempt to placate rather than address the issues of sexual violence and dehumanisation of women.[…]
Equality Bahamas director Alicia Wallace yesterday slammed the proposed changes, stating that “aggravated sexual assault by spouse” is not synonymous with rape.
She said the use of such language, and the failure to amend the definition of rape in the Sexual Offences Act is a direct refusal to recognise the personhood of women after marriage.
The Sexual Offences Act, in section 3, currently limits the act of rape to “another person who is not his spouse.”
Ms Wallace said: “Among issues with the draft amendment bill are the refusal to call rape by its name, the one year limit for reporting, and the consent of the attorney general to prosecute.
“We know that, for various reasons including financial standing, intimate partner violence is not always reported immediately. Such a narrow timeline to report rape within marriage is an unacceptable limitation and denial of access to justice.
“It would better serve us all to work together in drafting such amendments, the expertise of advocacy and service organizations contributing to necessary legislative advancement,” she added.
She said the use of such language, and the failure to amend the definition of rape in the Sexual Offences Act is a direct refusal to recognise the personhood of women after marriage.