South African
lawmakers Tuesday approved major reforms to the country's
rape laws, including extending the definition of rape to
include men.
The Sexual
Offences Bill was passed less than two weeks after a
separate challenge was turned down by South Africa's
highest court, which said the issue should be decided
by legislators.
The bill must go
to the National Council of Provinces before it can be
signed into law, the South African Press Association
reported.
Among other
changes, it equalizes treatment of male and female victims
and labels many more types of assaults, including forced
oral sex, as "rape." Previously, forced anal
penetration of men or boys was prosecuted as an
"indecent act" and given much lighter sentencing.
It allows victims
to obtain a court order for alleged offenders to
undergo compulsory HIV testing and for the results to be
revealed to them. It entitles victims to PEP,
post-exposure prophylaxis in the form of
antiretroviral drugs, at state expense, provided that they
press criminal charges against their
attackers--an amendment that had been fought by
activists.
"The bill now
means you can't walk into a health facility and say
you've been raped and ask for PEP and just be assessed on a
medical basis," Liesel Gerthotholtz, director of the
Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre in Johannesburg,
told IRIN Africa News.
"I personally
think that the requirement may even be unconstitutional
in terms of the right to access health care," Gerthotholtz
said.
In addition, the
law establishes new penalties for child sex abusers and
sex trafficking and creates a federal sex-offender registry.
Advocates say the
law is important because South Africa has one of the
highest rape rates, as well as one of the highest AIDS
rates, in the world. Many of the assaults against men
take place in the criminal justice system, and
corrections workers were among the law's chief
supporters.
"All acts of
forced sex should be treated equally in the eyes of the
law," Melanie Judge of OUT LGBT told the press association.
Two weeks
earlier, South Africa's constitutional court declined to
take that view.
A man convicted
of raping a 9-year-old girl in 2004 appealed to the high
court, citing evidence that found she had been anally, but
not vaginally, penetrated. The court ruled May 10 that
under the laws then prevailing the defendant could
only be seen to have committed indecent assault and
sent his sentence back to a lower court for review. (Barbara
Wilcox, The Advocate)
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