Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work. New York β Protests in Bangladesh erupted this week after a video of a group of men attacking, stripping, and sexually assaulting a woman went viral, Human Rights Watch said today. The woman told the media that the men had filmed the assault and then threatened for over a month to release the video in an effort to extort money from her and to compel her to comply with their demands for sex.
When she resisted, they released the video. Though the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has sought to remove the video from the internet , it continues to circulate widely. According to Ain o Salish Kendra, a Bangladeshi human rights organization, women or girls were raped in just the first nine months of Over of these cases were gang rape. Since these numbers are based on media reports and most survivors do not report assault, they most likely capture only a small fraction of the true number of cases of sexual violence against women and girls in Bangladesh.
(mh=ycLuQFyIgkuEv3_2)0.jpg "Sluts Cubal")
Following massive protests earlier this year in response to a case in Dhaka , a High Court ordered the Law Ministry in January to form a commission within 30 days to address the troubling rise of sexual violence in the country, with the aim of producing recommendations by June.
However, more than nine months after the order, it is unclear whether the commission is functioning, and it has not produced recommendations. In the meantime, the government has yet to pass long-promised sexual harassment and witness protection laws.
(mh=xkX0-jlwJJR87Uoz)0.jpg "Sluts in Cubal")
Survivors continue to face stigma, and do not have adequate access to psychosocial services when they seek help. The attackers are rarely held to account. The conviction rate for rape in Bangladesh is below 1 percent. A UN multi-country survey found that among men in Bangladesh who admitted to committing rape, 88 percent of rural respondents and 95 percent of urban respondents said that they had faced no legal consequences.
