The most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of
women in the world.

Latest items for LRW-LAW-4

Sept. 7, 2023, 12:33 p.m.
Countries: Lebanon
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"ABAAD successfully campaigned in 2017 to abolish an article that stated a rapist could marry their victim to avoid prosecution" (para 32).
June 27, 2023, 11:16 p.m.
Countries: Algeria
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"A provision of the penal code allows an adult accused of 'corruption of a minor' to avoid prosecution if the accused subsequently marries his or her victim and if the crime did not involve violence, threats, or fraud" (27).
March 31, 2023, 2:31 p.m.
Countries: Egypt
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

[T]the Penal Code, particularly articles 17 and 60, justify and condone acts of violence against women by requiring that battery exceed 'accepted limits of discipline' for it to be successfully prosecuted, providing for the 'good faith' defence that absolves men from criminal responsibility in domestic violence cases" (6).
Feb. 5, 2023, 7:50 p.m.
Countries: Qatar
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"She was put in front of the man she had accused and questioned for three hours in Arabic. He was acquitted on charges of assault because there were ‘no cameras’ showing it, but she remained accused, and was warned by her lawyers that one of the only ways to avoid a conviction would be to marry her alleged attacker." (para 12).
May 27, 2022, 4:14 p.m.
Countries: Turkey
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Within the framework of Turkish Civil Code and Turkish Criminal Code, the marriage of the victim of sexual violence to the perpetrator has no effect on removing criminal responsibility, and also the convenient procedure for the annulment of such marriages is regulated in the Turkish Civil Code. On the other hand, according to the 'Regulation on Combating Human Trafficking and Protection of Victims', cases of forced marriage could be evaluated within the scope of human trafficking crime" (11).
April 29, 2022, 5:43 p.m.
Countries: Russia
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"[T]he Committee notes with concern:... The exemption of perpetrators of statutory rape from criminal liability in case of marriage to the victim" (6). "[A]rticles 131 to 134 of the Criminal Code [contain] exemption of perpetrators of statutory rape from criminal liability in case of marriage to the victim" (7).
March 10, 2022, 10:53 p.m.
Countries: Lebanon
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"In 2017 parliament repealed the article of the penal code that freed rapists from prosecution and nullified their convictions if they married their victims" (31).
Feb. 11, 2022, 5 p.m.
Countries: Thailand
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"NGOs asserted rape was a serious problem and welcomed an amendment to the Penal Code enacted in May that struck down an earlier provision allowing sexual-assault offenders younger than age 18 to avoid prosecution by marrying their victim." (31).
Jan. 24, 2022, 1:07 p.m.
Countries: India
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Police sometimes worked to reconcile rape victims and their attackers; in some cases they encouraged female rape victims to marry their attackers" (42).
Jan. 6, 2022, 4:10 p.m.
Countries: Somalia
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Zahra Mohamed Ahmed, the legal advisor to the Somali Women Development Center states: 'There is no such thing as protection in Somalia.' Zahra, is referring to women here" (1).
Dec. 3, 2021, 9:11 a.m.
Countries: Venezuela
Variables: LRW-LAW-4, LRCM-LAW-2

"The law criminalizes rape of men or women, including spousal rape, making it punishable by a prison term of eight to 14 years. A man may legally avoid punishment by marrying (before he is sentenced) the person he raped. The law allows authorities to consider alternative forms of punishment, including work release, for those convicted of various crimes, including rape, if they have completed three-quarters of their sentence" (27).
Nov. 30, 2021, 2:34 p.m.
Countries: Palestine
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"[T]he PA repealed a law that relieved a rapist of criminal responsibility if he married his victim" (95).
July 16, 2021, 11:50 a.m.
Countries: Libya
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-3, LRW-LAW-4

"By law a convicted rapist may avoid a 25-year prison sentence by marrying the survivor, regardless of her wishes--provided her family consents. According to UNSMIL, the forced marriage of rape survivors to their perpetrators as a way to avoid criminal proceedings remained rare" (p 24).
July 12, 2021, 12:17 p.m.
Countries: India
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"The bench, comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and S Ravindra, also directed that courts should not suggest, entertain or encourage marriage between the survivor and the accused, or mandate mediation between them, as these forms of compromises are beyond the power and jurisdiction of the court" (para 5).
June 29, 2021, 11:26 a.m.
Countries: D R Congo
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"The legal definition of rape does not include spousal rape. It also prohibits extrajudicial settlements (for example, a customary fine paid by the perpetrator to the family of the victim) and forced marriage, allows victims of sexual violence to waive appearance in court, and permits closed hearings to protect confidentiality" (p 39).
June 29, 2021, 9:16 a.m.
Countries: Jordan
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"In 2017, the Jordanian parliament approved a series of important human rights reforms – including the scrapping of the country’s infamous ‘marry your rapist’ law" (para 26).
Dec. 24, 2020, 10:28 a.m.
Countries: Malaysia
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"There have been a rising number of female judges in Malaysia's top courts in recent years but women's rights groups hoped her appointment would help tackle the low conviction rates in cases like rape and domestic violence" (para 3).
Oct. 9, 2020, 8:33 a.m.
Countries: Turkey
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"In 2016 the government withdrew a bill that pardoned men convicted of sex with underage girls if they had married them" (para 15).
Sept. 26, 2020, 6:47 p.m.
Countries: Kuwait
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Under article 182, an abductor who uses force, threat, or deception with the intention to kill, harm, rape, prostitute, or extort a victim is spared any punishment if he marries the victim with her guardian’s permission" (para 19).
Sept. 14, 2020, 6:34 p.m.
Countries: Bahrain
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Article (353) of the Bahraini Penal Code (Chapter III, Section on debauchery and prostitution) allows for not inflicting a penalty against one who committed rape, even if the court judgement was final, in case he marries the victim. This article constitutes discrimination against women and a gross violation of human rights principles" (1).
Sept. 11, 2020, 8:52 p.m.
Countries: Libya
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Under the penal code, rapists can escape prosecution if they marry their victim" (para 31).
Sept. 4, 2020, 9:43 p.m.
Countries: Lebanon
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"In 2017, Lebanon’s parliament repealed article 522, which had allowed rapists to escape prosecution by marrying the victim, but left a loophole with regard to offences relating to sex with children aged 15-17 and sex with virgin girls with promises of marriage" (para 19).
Sept. 2, 2020, 10:50 a.m.
Countries: Thailand
Variables: LRW-LAW-4, LRCM-LAW-2

"Section 277 of Thailand’s Criminal Code, B.E 2499 (1956) provides marital immunity for sexual intercourse with girls under the age of 15 who are said to ‘consent’, and allows a man who rapes a girl between the ages of 13 to 15 to escape punishment by marrying the victim" (para 1) "Section 277 [Of the Criminmal Code]: Whoever has sexual intercourse with a girl not yet over fifteen years of age and not being his own wife, whether such girl shall consent or not, shall be punished with imprisonment of four to twenty years and fined of eight thousand to forty thousand Baht. If the commission of the offence according...more
Aug. 30, 2020, 8:39 p.m.
Countries: Iraq
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"While sexual assault is criminalized, article 398 provides that such charges be dropped if the assailant marries the victim" (para 34).
Aug. 30, 2020, 7 p.m.
Countries: Bahrain
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Article 353 of the penal code exempts perpetrators of rape from prosecution and punishment if they marry their victims. Bahrain’s parliament proposed a full repeal of that article in 2016, but the cabinet rejected the proposal" (para 21).
Aug. 16, 2020, 6:50 p.m.
Countries: Sri Lanka
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1, LRW-LAW-4

"They also called for a removal of the exemption of penalties for rape of married Muslim girls above the age of 12" (para 20).
May 29, 2020, 11:59 a.m.
Countries: Palestine
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"The Palestinian Council of Ministers decided to abolish Article 308 of the Penal Code that allows rapists to avoid punishment if he marries the victim within five years" (para 6).
July 20, 2019, 8:20 a.m.
Countries: Syria
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"The law further stipulates that if the rapist marries the victim, the rapist receives no punishment. The victim’s family sometimes agreed to this arrangement to avoid the social stigma attached to rape" (Pg 44).
July 19, 2019, 12:46 p.m.
Countries: Turkey
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"Courts gave reduced sentences to some men found guilty of committing violence against women, citing good behavior during the trial or “provocation” by women as an extenuating circumstance of the crime, and in some cases dismissed rape charges if the suspect married the victim" (page 50).
July 15, 2019, 3:24 p.m.
Countries: Thailand
Variables: LRW-LAW-4

"NGOs asserted that rape was a serious problem, and noted a measure in the law allows offenders younger than 18 to avoid prosecution by choosing to marry their victim. They also maintained that victims underreported rapes and domestic assaults, in part due to a lack of understanding by authorities that impeded effective implementation of the law regarding violence against women" (page 28).