Sisters For Change has launched a series of reports on behalf of the Equality & Justice Alliance. The report Comparative Legal Review of Harassment and Sexual Exploitation Laws across the Commonwealth, commissioned by Sisters For Change and authored by the Legal Assistance Centre in Namibia, provides a comparative review of harassment and sexual exploitation laws across the Commonwealth with the objective of informing Namibia’s development of anti-discrimination, harassment and sexual exploitation laws. The report explores the prevalence of discrimination, harassment, violence and sexual exploitation in Namibia and discusses a series of recent case studies demonstrating gaps in legal protection. The report considers international and regional human rights conventions and legal standards relevant to harassment, hate speech and sexual exploitation and analyses the criminal offences, civil wrongs and civil remedies which currently exist in Namibia to tackle physical, verbal and online harassment. The report concludes with a detailed examination of three different models of harassment laws from the Commonwealth countries of the United Kingdom (England and Wales); South Africa and Canada.
The purpose of this report is to support the development of legislation to tackle offline and online harassment, in particular harassment on the groups of personal characteristics such as sex, race, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity and sexual exploitation of children and vulnerable adults in order to advance equality and strengthen equal protection of the law for all Commonwealth citizens.
Four separate volumes of appendices are available to download in PDF format providing excerpts of legislation on discrimination, harassment and sexual exploitation from across the regions of the Commonwealth – Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the Americas, Europe and Pacific – as well as relevant international and regional conventions and directives.
Appendix 1: Models of harassment laws includes excerpts of harassment laws from across all regions of the Commonwealth – Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the Americas, Europe and Pacific – as well as from a number of Non-Commonwealth countries including Germany, the United States and Bermuda.
Appendix 2 Models of cyber harassment laws and related legislation includes excerpts of laws on online harassment and cybercrimes, voyeurism and laws on jurisdiction for the investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes from across the regions of the Commonwealth – Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the Americas, Europe and Pacific – as well as international conventions on violence against women and child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Appendix 3 Models of laws prohibiting discrimination, harassment and hate speech based on personal characteristics includes excerpts of laws prohibiting discrimination and harassment based on personal characteristics, aggravated offences and laws prohibiting hate speech, hate crimes and inciting violence from across the regions of the Commonwealth – Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the Americas, Europe and Pacific – as well as and international and regional conventions prohibiting discrimination.
Appendix 4 Models of laws on grooming and sexual exploitation of children includes excerpts of domestic laws on grooming and sexual exploitation from across the regions of the Commonwealth – Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the Americas, Europe and Pacific – and international and regional conventions on the rights and protection of children.
