Rape Legal guidelines within the Arab World: Does Honor Nonetheless Come First?

  “One slogan from a civil society marketing campaign in Jordan as soon as learn, ‘my dowry (cash for the bride) was rape,’” stated Wafa Bani Mustafa, Jordan’s Minister of Social Improvement, on the launch of Equality Now’s regional report on rape laws in Arab states on Tuesday, 9 September. “This slogan highlighted the grim actuality that survivors, even when married underneath this legislation, had been usually denied their primary rights, resembling dowry.” The minister was referring to the “marry your rapist” legal guidelines as soon as current in a number of Arab international locations. In Jordan, the legislation was repealed in 2017 following main campaigns, and comparable repeals have taken place in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Morocco. But the apply nonetheless lingers informally, exterior the authorized system. In different international locations the place it stays, the legislation permits rapists to keep away from prosecution, or obtain diminished sentences, by marrying their victims, successfully legalizing compelled marriage underneath the guise of “restoring honor.” Because the minister famous, even inside marriage, survivors are denied their full rights as human beings and as ladies, usually left with no recourse. To protect her “honor,”  a survivor is compelled to relive her trauma, give up her rights,…