This is the joint website of  Women Against Rape and Black Women's Rape Action Project. Both organisations are based on self-help and provide support, legal information and advocacy. We campaign for justice and protection for all women and girls, including asylum seekers, who have suffered sexual, domestic and/or racist violence.

WAR was founded in 1976. It has won changes in the law, such as making rape in marriage a crime, set legal precedents and achieved compensation for many women. BWRAP was founded in 1991. It focuses on getting justice for women of colour, bringing out the particular discrimination they face. It has prevented the deportation of many rape survivors. Both organisations are multiracial.

 

 

 

Home » Events

Delegation of rape survivors meet with Solicitor General

Event

Start and End Dates

29 March, 2007 - 14:00

Location

Solicitor General’s Office, 9 Buckingham Gate, SW1

Entry price

SolGeneral2886web.jpgLocation: Solicitor General’s Office, 9 Buckingham Gate, SW1

1.45pm: Women Against Rape supporters arrive at Buckingham Gate
2-2.45: private delegation
2.45: report back on results of the meeting and response from victims

WOMEN AGAINST RAPE
Delegation of rape survivors to meet Solicitor General re anonymity and the prosecution of the Daily Mail
Thursday 29th March, 2pm

Women Against Rape is meeting with Mike O’Brien, the Solicitor General, to demand the protection of women who report rape and their right to anonymity, and the prosecution of the Daily Mail for breach of a woman’s anonymity in October last year. 

We conveyed these concerns in an open letter to the Attorney General, endorsed by over 50 lawyers and organizations.  An Early Day Motion (EDM 1082 ‘ANONYMITY IN RAPE CASES’) tabled by Harry Cohen MP is circulating in the House of Commons.  We reported the Daily Mail to the police but the Crown Prosecution Service refuses to prosecute.

 While there is general agreement that urgent practical measures must be taken to tackle the 5.3% conviction rate for reported rape (most rape goes unreported), the government is considering taking away the guarantee of anonymity for those who report rape or sexual assault.  Some women whose report of rape was not believed by police or was not proven in court have already lost their anonymity, have been witch-hunted in the media and even jailed.  Thousands of victims are likely to put off from reporting serious crimes.  Is the intention to camouflage the shamefully low conviction rate by lowering the number of victims who report?

On 29th March, we will demand action on:

·         False allegations – women who report rape and sexual assault are arrested, named, prosecuted and imprisoned for “perverting the course of justice”.  Yet there is no evidence that false allegations are widespread.  On the contrary, figures for false allegations of rape are lower than for other crimes (3.9%).  Women who have been attacked more than once and report more than one attack, are most likely to be accused of making a false allegation.  It seems the more vulnerable we are, the less protected we are.  This criminalization of rape victims must stop.

·         Anonymity – introduced in 1976 to encourage women to report.  Women’s campaigning made clear that fear of retaliation and the sexism of the media, which sensationalized rape at the expense of the victim, were major obstacles to women coming forward.  Now that increasing numbers of women are reporting, our Right to Anonymity is under threat.  Rape survivors are the only victims of crime who continue to be routinely hounded and discredited in the media.  The Daily Mail in particular has been running a campaign – women deemed to be liars are being named with no regard for their safety.  The protection of the law must remain and be more forcibly enforced.

·         Police – women still face disbelief or even hostility at the hands of police.  Their negligence or even refusal to investigate is getting worse.  Key evidence needed to prosecute is not gathered or is “lost”.  This results in cases being dropped or mishandled in court, and victims become liable to the charge of lying!  Police must be brought to account for their sexism and other prejudices which interfere with the evidence.  They must police rape rather than side with rapists.

·         Crown prosecutors – don’t establish the credibility of their main witness, and routinely stand by while she is trashed in court.  They don’t ensure the evidence they need to get a conviction has been gathered, or when it has they don’t present it properly.  Lazy, negligent, hostile or inexperienced barristers must not be allowed to prosecute rape.  People who have been raped deserve for their case to be properly represented in court.

·         Sexual history – women, and even girls under 16, are put on trial in court for their “previous sexual history”, real or imagined, with men who have no connection with the rape.  This continues in spite of the legal ban on sexual history evidence (Section 41, Youth Justice & Criminal Evidence Act 2000).  Research in 2006 found that most judges and barristers ignore the legislation, allowing sexual history evidence to feature in three-quarters of rape trials.  The law on sexual history must be enforced.

·         Judges – are allowed to continue sitting in rape trials despite having flouted the law on consent and the rules to stop character assassination of the woman or girl alleging rape.  Sexist judges must be prevented from presiding over rape trials.

·         No one is accountable, disciplined or sacked when rape cases are wrongly dropped or lost.  Instead of naming and shaming victims, why not name and shame those who don’t do their job properly?  The criminal justice system must be stopped from protecting “their own” at the expense of justice.  Sack or demote them as any of us would be if we didn’t do our job, and lessons would be learnt in no time

 Press report: Delegation of rape survivors meet with Solicitor General

PRESS MATERIAL
Available now:

Women are available for comment and interview.

Broadcast-quality film (10 mins) of 7 women describing their treatment at the hands of the police and the courts after being raped and abused.  Made in March 2007.

Photo Opportunity 29.03.07, 3pm – outside Mike O’Brien’s office, a group of supporters will await news of the Solicitor General’s response to the 45 minute delegation.  We will have a banner and black and white balloons because rape is not a grey area.  Every decent man knows the difference between consensual sex and rape.  For every raped woman, nothing will extinguish the pain and humiliation, but the least we deserve is justice.  More than 94.7% of us don’t get anything close to it.

WOMEN AGAINST RAPE
Is a multi-racial self-help group of rape survivors, mothers, relatives, friends and other concerned individuals.  It is an entirely independent voluntary organisation that receives no government funding.  In 1991, following our 15-year campaign, rape in marriage was finally recognized as a crime.  In 1995 we helped two women bring the first private prosecution for rape, on evidence rejected by the CPS – the man got a 14-year sentence. 

CONTACT WAR 020 7482 2496  war@womenagainstrape.net