South Asia survivors struggle to access sexual violence compensation, report finds

A new SAMAJ report says survivors of sexual violence across South Asia often cannot access compensation because schemes are underfunded, slow and hard to use. The findings point to uneven enforcement in countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and the Maldives, and call for national victim funds and emergency support.

Why it matters: - Sexual violence can trigger immediate and long-term financial harm, including medical costs, counselling, transport, legal aid, relocation, lost income and reduced earning potential. - The report says many survivors are legally entitled to compensation but still cannot access it when they need it most. - Delays and barriers push some survivors toward informal settlements and away from formal justice processes.

What happened: - The South Asian Movement for Accessing Justice, or SAMAJ, released The Good Practices Paper on Compensation for Survivors of Sexual Violence in South Asia. - The report reviews compensation systems in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. - SAMAJ says these systems are often underfunded, inconsistently implemented and difficult to navigate.

The details: - Survivors often must move through complex criminal justice processes before compensation is available. - Investigations, trials and administrative steps can take so long that survivors absorb the costs of seeking justice themselves. - Many survivors and justice officials do not know the compensation schemes exist. - Low conviction rates and delayed fund disbursement further reduce access. - Where interim support is unavailable, survivors may have to choose between an expensive legal case and an informal settlement, often under pressure. - Coerced out-of-court settlements are widespread across South Asia, and the report links that trend to the lack of emergency compensation. - In Pakistan, many survivors receive no compensation even after conviction because judges have broad discretion over whether to award it. - In Bangladesh, courts awarded compensation in just 6.8% of reviewed rape cases. - Bangladesh also lacks a national victim compensation fund. - Dalit and Adivasi women, Indigenous women, religious minorities and children born as a result of rape face added barriers tied to discrimination, poverty and social exclusion. - Women with disabilities often encounter inaccessible information, inaccessible police stations, courts and offices, and officials who do not understand disability-related needs. - In the Maldives, geography adds major obstacles because the country spans about 200 inhabited islands. - Forensic exam capacity, trained counsellors, shelters and legal aid are concentrated in Malé and a few other urban centers. - Rapid reporting guidance to preserve forensic evidence creates additional logistical and cost barriers for island communities. - Limited public data on compensation awards makes it difficult to tell whether compensation is reaching survivors in the Maldives. - Sri Lanka has a statutory Victims' Assistance and Protection Fund and a national authority mandate, including payment of compensation to victims of crime. - Even so, survivors in conflict-affected areas, Tamil communities and other marginalized groups still face uneven access to support and reparations. - In Nepal, survivors of the 1996-2006 civil war remain largely excluded from compensation because no legal mechanism for conflict-era reparation has been enacted.

Between the lines: - India and Nepal stand out in the report as the region’s strongest models because both systems treat compensation as something that should not depend on a criminal conviction. - Nepal’s Crime Victim Protection Act 2018 consolidates victims’ rights and creates a central Victim Relief Fund that can pay compensation when an offender cannot. - India combines state funding duties, independent Legal Services Authorities and constitutional jurisprudence that recognizes compensation as an enforceable right. - After finding compensation laws were not being implemented as intended, India’s Supreme Court directed courts nationwide to consider compensation in all sexual offence cases. - The report argues that emergency support is a practical way to keep survivors in the justice system and reduce pressure to settle privately. - Manjula Pradeep of the National Council of Women Leaders said a survivor in Uttar Pradesh was able to leave home, return to court and pursue a law degree after receiving government grant assistance.

What's next: - SAMAJ is calling on governments, donors and civil society groups to create national victim compensation funds in Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Maldives. - The coalition wants compensation to be available without requiring a criminal conviction. - SAMAJ also wants interim disbursement systems for emergency medical care, psychosocial support and transport. - The report urges governments to enforce court-ordered compensation, publish annual data on awards and payments, and standardize victim fund guidelines. - SAMAJ says information and application processes should be available in local languages and accessible formats. - The coalition also calls for explicit reparations frameworks for conflict-related sexual violence survivors in Nepal and Sri Lanka. - Divya Srinivasan of Equality Now, the secretariat and co-founder of SAMAJ, said South Asian governments should legislate where the law is missing and fund and enforce it where it already exists.

The bottom line: - The report’s core finding is blunt: legal rights to compensation mean little without funding, speed and access, especially for survivors facing poverty, discrimination and geographic isolation.