By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis says he believes a national conversation is needed concerning the criminalisation of marital rape, noting the country remains one of the few in the world that has no legislation addressing the issue.

“Marital rape is wrong,” Mr Davis said in a tweet from his verified Twitter account yesterday. “We remain one of the few countries where that is not recognised in the law. An effort to change the law should be part of a larger national conversation and consensus. I very much support having that national conversation.”

Mr Davis’ comments came after he recently indicated to a local daily that his administration could not commit to prioritising the criminalisation of marital rape while in office.

“I have too many other things on my agenda to be thinking about,” he told the Nassau Guardian on Wednesday when asked about the issue.

However, Mr Davis’ response is not surprising as he made similar comments last year when asked by The Tribune if criminalising marital rape would be a key item on his government’s agenda if elected. He was opposition leader at the time.

“Let me just say this: there are a number of policy initiatives that we as a government, when we are elected, which we will have to prioritise,” Mr Davis said last year.

“So, for example, our primary focus would have to be on the economy because that’s priority number one because the only demographic of our society that seems to be doing well in this economy is that two percent at the top. The middle class is suffering. Those ordinary Bahamians are suffering and continue to be weighted upon by what this government is doing to them. So for me to say prioritise marital rape, to commit right now….we commit that we will address it.”

Mr Davis has previously condemned the practice, however, saying his party does not support men raping their wives.

The issue has returned to the national spotlight after it was reported many respondents of a recent study believe that spouses cannot rape their partners. The findings were highlighted in the study titled, “Mental Health and Negative Sexual Experiences of Bahamian University Students.”

The study found that 39.6 percent of male and 43.8 percent of female respondents at the University of The Bahamas agreed that a married couple cannot rape each other.

However, there have also been widespread calls to criminalise marital rape in recent years.

When contacted by The Tribune yesterday, local activist Khandi Gibson said she believes now is the time for the country to decide whether spousal rape should be considered a crime.

She also condemned marital rape.

“I personally feel like no is no. . .A man has no right to hop on you and have sex with you without giving your consent,” she told The Tribune yesterday. “We need to have a discussion on that.”

Asked if she thought the issue should be a priority for the Davis administration, she replied in the affirmative, but also pointed to other issues of sexual violence and violence against children that need to be addressed as well.

“I believe everything right now needs to be a priority so it’s not just that. . . I feel like everything concerning human rights should be a priority,” she said.

In 2018, then-Attorney General Carl Bethel told the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland that the Minnis administration had drafted an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act to outlaw aggravated spousal sexual abuse.

At the time Mr Bethel said although the proposed offence was not to be labeled marital rape, it had all the elements of the offence of rape in a marriage.

However, the legislation was never brought to Parliament by the former administration.