Foreword

• Author: Judith Daylen, Wendy van Tongeren Harvey, and Dennis O'Toole
• Pages: 21-23

Foreword

Violence against women and children worldwide takes many forms, and

sexual assault is one of them. Sexua l assault and other gender-based crimes

are committed in a number of ways. Without being exhaustive, the list in-

cludes: incest, pedophilia, rape, systemic rape a s a form of warfare, track-

ing in women and children, honour killings, genital mutilation, stoning,

slavery, pimping, child pornography, aborting female fetuses and killing

newborn fema les, domestic as sault, and sex ual assault on city streets. e se

crimes are so pervasive that the international community, in an attempt to

impel countries to action, has adopted a number of declarations, conven-

tions, and protocols. e Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the

Child are two measures that address violations of a most fundamental hu-

man right — the right to life. Sexual abuse, in particular, is a profound

violation of the respect, consideration, and the dignity that every human

being deserves. It is a crime against human rights. e consequences of

these crimes, especially for women and for children, are incommensurable.

e pain and suering as well as the loss of happiness and enjoyment of

life and health —in particular, mental health sometimes even leading to

suicide on the part of victims —can not be overstated.

In our own society, recent history has seen an increased awareness of

sexual crimes and a better understanding of the people who perpetrate

them, but these oences continue to present unique challenges to our men-

tal health and legal systems . Sexual oences generally occur in private with

no witnesses, are oen committed by people who know the victim well,

and frequentl y leave little or no physica l evidence. A lthough sexu al oend-

ing is prevalent in our communities, fear, social stigma, and lack of knowl-

edge too oen prevent victims from coming forward. Oences of this sort

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