Search Results for: sex assault

Pakistan’s transgender community finds itself embroiled in an ongoing struggle for inclusion, facing a recent setback with a verdict from the Federal Shariat Court (FSC). Transgender activists in Pakistan have appealed the judgement of the Federal Shariat Court (“FSC”), which adjudicates based on the tenets of Islam, to the Supreme Court (“SC”). As many as [...]

Japan’s national legislature passed groundbreaking revisions to its sex crimes laws Friday. The House of Councillors, the upper house of Japan’s National Diet, voted in favor of changes to Chapter 22 of Japan’s Penal Code. Chapter 22 concerns crimes of obscenity, forcible sexual intercourse, and bigamy. The changes include increasing the age of consent from [...]

The UN announced Friday that a Tanzanian unit of peacekeeping forces deployed with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) was removed after sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) allegations.  The UN said that eleven members of the unit were found to have credible allegations from four victims. The entire [...]

The Supreme Court of India (SC) recently delivered a notable judgement in Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa & Ors, highlighting “serious lapses” in the effective administration of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 or the POSH Act. The SC yet again directed the concerned authorities to ensure [...]

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul released a comprehensive report Tuesday naming over 450 child sex abusers within Catholic Church leadership in the state. The report follows a five-year investigation, which occurred following the large-scale revelations of child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania in 2018. The report names and provides information for 451 Church leaders within Illinois [...]

Pope Francis dispatched Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, a top Vatican sex crime investigator, to Bolivia on Monday as victims of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of priests continue to come forward. Bertomeu, a leading member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), previously led investigations of abuses committed by priests against minors [...]

Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen signed a bill into law on Monday that bans abortion after 12 weeks and limits gender-affirming care for minors. Legislative Bill (LB) 574 contains two separate acts–the Preborn Child Protection Act and the Let Them Grow Act. The abortion ban provides exceptions for victims of sexual assault, incest and medical emergency [...]

Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins Thursday unveiled a new code of conduct for parliamentarians and staffers to improve workplace culture in the Australian Parliament. The new code of conduct comes after the November 2021 Set the Standard report that Jenkins led which found that over 50 percent of parliamentarians and staffers had negative experiences working [...]

Within the past 12 months, Jacinda Ardern has resigned as New Zealand’s prime minister, former Australian PM Julia Gillard’s famous “misogyny speech” celebrated its tenth anniversary, and the high-profile retrial against Australian Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann for the alleged rape of colleague Brittany Higgins was dropped for posing a “significant and unacceptable risk” to [...]

The Department of Education’s new Title IX regulations would rollback due process rights for students and faculty, claims a report published Tuesday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). The new regulations, announced on the 50th anniversary of Title IX on June 23, would reverse Trump-era changes in the civil rights law. The [...]