By JADE RUSSELL

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

LOCAL advocacy group Human Rights Bahamas said it supports government’s efforts to criminalise spousal sexual abuse.

The proposed Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act was presented recently during the Ministry of Social Services and Department of Gender and Family Affairs’ sexual offences legislation one day symposium.

The draft amendment to the Sexual Offences Act seeks to criminalise marital rape and redefine what consent is.

The topic has sparked mixed reviews with the public, however, Human Rights Bahamas in a press release said it fully supports Attorney General Ryan Pinder’s position on the question of martial rape.

Under the proposed bill, rape is redefined as “the act of any person not under fourteen years of age having sexual intercourse with another person without the consent of that person where he knows that person does not consent or is reckless as to whether the person consents.”

Human Rights Bahamas said that currently an individual in a marriage is legally allowed to sexually force themselves upon the other spouse against their will.

“In virtually any other context, this would be regarded as repugnant behaviour and the perpetrator would be tried, convicted and jailed. ‘No’ must always mean ‘no’ in every context, otherwise women are essentially second-class citizens, barred from accessing the rights enshrined in our Constitution.”

The local advocacy group argued that as rape within a marriage does not constitute legal grounds for divorce in The Bahamas, currently many women are forced to give other reasons to end their marriage.

“When the truth is that they (women) simply cannot endure another moment of living as the frightened victim of repeated sexual assault,” Human Rights Bahamas (HRB) said.

Regarding the argument from some quarters that changing the law will encourage married women to make false accusations of rape, HRB called that “irrational” and “meaningless”.

“The same could be said of any sexual crime, or indeed any violent assault or other inter-personal offence currently on the books,” HRB said.

“The fact of the matter is, Bahamian women hold the institution of marriage to be just as sacred as men do; the idea that protecting their rights will lead to frivolous accusations of sexual abuse in order to secure grounds for divorce or in some way ‘punish’ their husband, are ridiculous and insulting. In any case, the law already has provisions for dealing with false accusations and if these are good enough for existing crimes, they would also be for marital rape.

“Human Rights Bahamas applauds the Davis administration for working towards the criminalisation of marital rape; we encourage them to prioritise this effort, along with other steps towards correcting the shocking imbalance of rights between men and women in The Bahamas.”