The Human Dignity Trust has published a ground-breaking series of reports investigating in detail how countries in four regions of the world have recently reformed outdated and discriminatory sexual offences laws.
Across much of the world, sexual offence laws still criminalise LGBT people, provide immunity for rape in marriage, fail to provide comprehensive protection for all people against rape and sexual assault, and use derogatory terms to describe persons with disabilities. With generous support from Global Affairs Canada, the Human Dignity Trust developed a series of case studies examining the ways in which six diverse Commonwealth and similarly situated governments around the world have achieved reform of these laws in recent years.
The case studies are the first of their kind and include examples of both wholesale updating of criminal codes, allowing multiple issues to be tackled together, and targeted legislative reform focusing on specific issues. By showcasing these examples, it is hoped that other countries can be inspired and assisted to undertake similar reforms.
This case study series examines in detail the successful law reform processes in six very diverse jurisdictions spanning four regions of the world, mostly in the Commonwealth, but also in non-Commonwealth countries that have a similar legal history and framework. It reveals both common lessons and divergent strategies and contexts, from which other countries considering a path to sexual offences law reform can take inspiration.
The case study series includes:
Palau, which in 2012 and 2014, respectively, modernised its sexual offences legislation and completed the wholesale updating of its penal code;
Belize, which in 2014 enacted major reforms to its colonial-era sexual offences laws, including making rape laws gender-neutral to protect both males and females, while achieving decriminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual acts in 2016 through the courts;
Northern Cyprus, which in 2014 repealed a law that criminalised consensual same-sex sexual conduct, prompted by litigation before the European Court of Human Rights, as part of a package of reforms to the sexual offences chapter of its colonial-era criminal code;
Mozambique, which in 2015 completed a wholesale updating of its penal code, including the modernisation of its sexual offences laws;
Seychelles, which in 2016 repealed a law criminalising consensual same-sex sexual intimacy; and
Nauru, which in 2016 completed a wholesale updating of its criminal code, including the modernisation of its sexual offences laws.
The lessons learnt from across the case studies have been brought together in a summary report, which draws together the similarities from each of the six individual case studies and contrasts the different models of change.
The case studies were developed with the support of the key actors behind the reforms in each country, including policy makers, civil society leaders, politicians and journalists.