Sexual violence is a human rights violation that impacts millions of people around the world. The vast majority of victims are women and girls, while almost all perpetrators are men.
Despite the pervasiveness of these crimes, laws around the world are insufficient, inconsistent, not systematically enforced, and, in some instances, even promote and perpetuate sexual violence.
At Equality Now, we support justice actors worldwide in amending sexual violence laws and in developing essential implementation measures. Even in contexts where laws have not yet been updated, we advocate for survivor-centred, perpetrator-focused, and gender-sensitive approaches to investigations, helping law enforcement and legal actors improve justice outcomes for survivors of sexual violence.
Ensuring equal access to justice requires systems to improve how survivors navigate these frameworks. Confronting myths, challenging stereotypes, and shifting focus onto the actions of the perpetrator can pave the way for greater accountability. Ending sexual violence everywhere requires good laws, effective implementation, and an intersectional approach to prevent and end this pervasive form of violence against women and girls.
Want to better understand how the law can be used to end sexual violence?
The Strengthening Justice Series is designed for anyone working to improve legal systems and protect survivors of sexual violence. Developed by legal and policy experts, this email series examines the complexities of sexual violence law and practice, offering actionable tools, comparative insights, and international perspectives to inform and advance reform in your work.
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Across the globe, many rape laws are still rooted in outdated notions of violence and resistance. Survivors are expected to prove they were physically overpowered or that they fought back, a standard that fails to reflect the realities of sexual violence and places the burden of responsibility unfairly on those who have been harmed.
This approach is not only harmful, it’s unjust.
Consent-based laws and practice shift the legal focus where it belongs: on whether a person freely and voluntarily consented to participate in sexual activity. Without this, the law reinforces dangerous myths and risks perpetuating a culture of impunity.
Changing the law, changing the world
