News From the Field | National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)

Film about rape critiques Pakistan’s justice system

By Michele Langevine Leiby

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Kainat Soomro was only 13 years old when, she says, she was abducted and gang-raped by four men in 2007. She defied Pakistan’s traditional tribal justice system to pursue her alleged attackers in court — and barely escaped a death sentence imposed by village elders for bringing disgrace to the community.

“Outlawed in Pakistan,” a documentary screened last month at the Sundance Film Festival, tells Soomro’s story.

Emerging technology linked to sexual violence

By Kate Bastians

An explosion in the use of technology and social networking sites among young people is creating more opportunities for sexual violence, according to a study released today.

Researchers from the Australian Institute of Family Studies found emerging technologies facilitated sexually violent acts by providing offenders with more ways of making contact with victims.

UN hails drop in female genital mutilation

Figures that reveal that fewer girls in Africa and the Middle East are being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) show it is possible to end the practice, the UN has said.

FGM, which typically involves removing the clitoris, can lead to bleeding, infections and childbirth problems.

The UN data said it was particularly in decline amongst the young in Kenya.

Kenyan women aged between 45 and 49 are three times more likely to have been cut than girls aged 15-19, it said.

South African girl's gang-rape and murder triggers political outrage

By David Smith

The gang-rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl in South Africa has triggered expressions of outrage from politicians and calls for Indian-style protests against a culture of sexual violence.

Anene Booysen was reportedly lured away from her friends and raped by a group of men. She was badly mutilated and left for dead on a building site in the town of Bredasdorp, 80 miles east of Cape Town, and found by a security guard on Saturday morning.

Official: Arrests coming in Mexico tourist rapes

By Mariano Castillo, Miguel Marquez and Nick Parker

GAO: DOD needs policy to ensure confidentiality for sex assault victims

By Nancy Montgomery

Military medical providers may not understand their duties to maintain the confidentiality of sexual-assault victims because of outdated command policies that conflict with or fail to mention how to deal with “restricted” reports, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

Service members and dependents who are sexually assaulted have the option of making a restricted report and, confidentially, getting physical and mental health care without triggering an intrusive investigation by law enforcement or the chain of command.

D.C. Councilman wants law firm to investigate police handling of sexual assaults

By Peter Hermann and Mike DeBonis

The chairman of the D.C. Council’s public safety committee said Friday the city will enlist a law firm to examine allegations that District police failed to document and investigate at least 170 sexual assaults.

India dramatically tightens laws on sexual assault, trafficking after gang rape

By Simon Denyer

NEW DELHI — India dramatically tightened its laws on sexual assault and trafficking Sunday, with a far-reaching package of measures rushed through to satisfy public opinion in the wake of a horrific gang rape of a young woman in the capital in December.

Egyptians work to reclaim a Tahrir tainted by sexual assault

NOTE: This article contains disturbing content that may be triggering for some readers.

By Kristen Chick

The accounts always unfold similarly. They begin with a group of men surrounding a woman during a large protest in Tahrir Square, often after night falls. They form a tight circle, then attack.

They rip off her clothes, sometimes stripping her completely naked, then sexually assault her. Her screams usually only make the violence worse. More men in the crowd join in. Unable to escape, she often describes feeling as if death is near.

Somalia: Alleged Rape Victim Charged

(Nairobi) – Somali authorities should drop politically motivated charges against five people including a journalist and a woman who alleged she was raped by state security forces.

The attorney general on January 29, 2013, brought charges of insulting a government body and inducing false evidence, among other charges, in a Mogadishu court. The next hearing is scheduled for February 2.