Effects and Limitations of Rape Law and Policy Reforms in Ethiopia
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Date
2020-03
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AAU
Abstract
Over the past two decades, rape law reform and various policy measures have been introduced to
address the problem of sexual violence against women in Ethiopia. Yet, subsequent to these reforms,
important questions remain regarding the extent to which the reforms have produced meaningful
results in terms of improving police reporting, prosecution and conviction rates for rape cases and the
treatment of rape victims. Using a largely qualitative method of enquiry and instruments such as
interviews, trial observation, questionnaire, and crime statistics, this study explores these very
important public policy, human rights and gender issues. Its objectives are threefold: i) to identify the
main strands of the 2004 rape law and policy reforms; ii) to evaluate the main effects of the reforms;
and iii) to assess limitations of the reforms in advancing the cause of rape victims. Accordingly, the
study found an increased trend in police reporting for rape cases, following the reforms, though it was
not accompanied by improved rates of attrition, prosecution and conviction. It also found that the
reforms have not led to a shift of focus from the character, reputation and behavior of the victim to the
criminal conduct of the offender, in rape case-processing. The reforms were found to have many
important limitations. For instance, the Revised Criminal Code still classifies rape as an affront to
collective morality and chastity; makes an unnecessary distinction in the degree of gravity of offences
based on sexual acts; fails to degenderize sexual offences; maintains violence and resistance as defining
elements of forcible rape and sexual assault; and decriminalizes forcible marital rape. Moreover, the
substantive rape law reforms were not accompanied by reforms of procedural and evidentiary laws.
For instance, there are no rules of procedure protecting rape victims’ physical safety and privacy. Nor
are there rules of evidence prohibiting the corroboration, eyewitness and prompt reporting
requirements and the routine admission of victims’ sexual history and social conducts, during rape case
trials. The study concludes that the reforms did not advance the cause of rape victims by eliminating
overly restrictive notions about what counts as rape and an intricate web of stereotypical myths
surrounding rape law and its enforcement, within the criminal justice system. It proposes further
comprehensive reforms, including degenderizing sexual offences; eliminating force and resistance as
the defining elements of rape; abolishing the marital rape exemption; and redefining rape as any
nonconsensual sex. It also proposes that substantive reforms to the rape law should be accompanied
by the promulgation of specific rules of procedural and evidence laws for rape cases.
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Keywords
rape law reform,sexual violence,Women violence,Rape Law and Policy,Rape