South Asian Movement for Accessing Justice: Call to action on ending sexual violence in South Asia

Equality Now recommends that governments in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka  take urgent, holistic action to end sexual violence against women and girls and ensure access to justice for survivors by:

Addressing protection gaps in the law

Strengthening rape laws to cover all forms of sexual penetration, criminalising marital rape in all circumstances, removing discriminatory evidence requirements and enacting specific protections for survivors from marginalised communities. Accountability mechanisms must also address sexual violence in conflict and ensure effective victim and witness protection.

Improving police responses to sexual violence

Holding police accountable for failures to register complaints, evidence tampering or pressuring survivors to compromise. Governments should mandate gender-sensitisation training, increase workforce diversity, establish women’s and children’s desks in all police stations and provide safe avenues for reporting police misconduct.

Ensuring survivor-friendly medical examinations

Banning and strictly enforcing prohibitions on the two-finger test across all countries. Survivors must have access to timely, sensitive medical examinations and care without requiring prior police complaints. Governments should invest in forensic infrastructure, trained personnel and survivor-centred medical protocols.

Strengthening criminal justice procedures and trials

Prioritising the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence through victim-centred, gender-sensitive systems, including specialised police units, prosecutors and courts, child-friendly procedures, disability-inclusive accommodations and free legal aid with regular case updates for survivors.

Designing and funding holistic survivor support

Establishing survivor compensation funds, one-stop support services and multi-sectoral response mechanisms. Governments must prevent forced mediation and extrajudicial settlements, and invest in long-term, trauma-informed care, prevention and community awareness programmes.

Improving monitoring, evaluation and data collection

Creating independent oversight mechanisms to assess sexual violence cases and publish findings. Governments must strengthen data collection on reporting, prosecution and conviction rates, ensuring freely available disaggregated data by sex, age, caste, ethnicity and other relevant factors.