‘Work to be done’ on sex offences act (The Tribune)

Sept. 20, 2022 – The Tribune

Equality Bahamas founder and co-director Alicia Wallace featured in The Tribune on September 20, 2022.

From The Tribune:

 

When contacted for comment, Equality Bahamas Director Alicia Wallace said that she was pleased to see that their recommendations for the draft of the bill was reflected in terms of redefining rape and the issue of consent.

“We also called for a definition of consent, which we did not see at all in the 2018 draft. So again, we’re pleased to see this progress. And we also noticed that the attorney general said that they looked at Guyana and Canada which have definitions of consent. And those were the two countries that we actually recommended we look at kn

owing that they had a very good, very strong definition of consent,” Ms Wallace said.

However, there has been a divided response over the draft bill as some religious leaders expressed their outrage on the proposed rape laws. During the question-and-answer period at the symposium, one pastor called the draft legislation “the wickedest and most demonic” bill in the country’s history.

In response to the criticism from some religious leaders on the draft bill, Ms Wallace said it seems the very “hateful” and “troubling” comments are an ongoing cycle.

“We know that for many years, administration after administration and the government of The Bahamas have bent over backwards to placate the most regressive of religious leaders. And that seems to be continuing where they were given all this space to make very, very hateful, very troubling comments about women about marriage, and really confusing the act of sex, which is consensual with the act of rape, which is violence,” she said.