Officials at the Bahamas Crisis Center are speaking out about gender based violence after Commissioner of Police revealed a rise in reported sexual assault cases in 2023 in a press conference on Monday.
Executive Director of the Bahamas Crisis Center, Sandra Dean-Patterson said, “we’re very concerned about the increase. There’s been an increase over the years and the worrying thing is not only is there an increase in adult rape but if you’ll notice twice as many children are raped as adults. So it’s a big issue that we have to address because the consequences are not only for the victim who experiences the violation, whether its a physical violation, the emotional, mental violation, the spiritual violation, all of those things impact.”
Human Rights Activist, Noelle Nichols called on the government to amend the legal definition of rape by removing from legislation the words ‘who is not his spouse’. Nicholls said the move would “ensure that the legal definition of rape truly establishes that standard that rape is rape with no exception.”
She went further commending the government “for doing the work to draft the amendment to the legislation and we call on the government to act without delay in passing that amendment.”
For her part, Crisis Center Deputy Director, Dr. Camille Smith addressed the issue of marital rape stating, “our wedding bands should not cover rape. It should not excuse rape. When we are married, we’re supposed to try to have healthy relationships.”
Reported cases of sexual assault increased by 11% in 2023 over the previous year.
