14 as statutory rape age limit: Civil society activists slam penal code reforms
A group of prominent civil society members have raised objections to the proposed Penal Code amendments calling for the reduction of the age of consent, concerning statutory rape to 14 years.
A statement has been issued by over 150 individuals and 55 Civil Society organisations calling for the immediate withdrawal of the Penal Code amendment.
The signatories are from civil society, including women’s rights activists, scholars and professionals, who have worked extensively on violence against women and girls from the 1990s to date.
They said the Bill must be withdrawn due to the complete misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the principle of “consent’’ of an underage girl, who is considered by the criminal law of our country, to be lacking in capacity to consent to sex.
The organisations pointed out that the Penal Code as amended in 1995 gives the age of 16 years as the age threshold of capacity of a minor under 18 years to give consent to sex.
“The offence of "Statutory Rape" is defined in most legal systems as the criminal offence of having sex with an underage minor girl, who has no capacity to consent because she is BELOW that defined
age threshold. This Bill is wrong therefore to propose a policy change that suggests that a girl under that age can “consent” to sex with an ADULT male under the age that the Bill specifies arbitrarily as 22. The Bill is also wrong to LOWER the age of capacity to consent to sex from 16 years to 14 years.”
“We do not know how this policy was formulated, and it clearly ignores current realities in Sri
Lanka on the high incidence of sexual abuse of minor children including girls, and the abysmal failures in law enforcement. This has in fact created a culture of impunity and even legitimacy for child sexual abuse. The age threshold of 16 years for sexual consent by a minor, was accepted in the 1995 amendments, because it conforms with an age at which a minor under 18 years acquires capacity for other acts such as release from parental custody, capacity to give consent to medical treatment, and now, to be legally employed. This age has been considered relevant in legal and medical scholarship. 16 years as an appropriate age for sex with consent has been recognised globally including in many countries in Africa and Asia.
“Laws on statutory rape of girls (i.e sex with underage girls ) have been introduced in many jurisdictions to protect them from sexual abuse and exploitation. Such abuse has serious impacts on their health, including reproductive rights and health, and general development. There is the risk of school drop outs due to teenage pregnancy and the risk of contracting STDs including HIV.”, the statement added.
“We all know that child sexual abuse is rife in this country. It is reprehensible that this Bill is being presented as an amendment to the Penal Code at this time, when the challenge is to strengthen enforcement of the existing law, and protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. The manner in which impunity for such abuse is being encouraged by lowering the age of consent of girls to 14 years, and then providing for suspended sentences for male perpetrators under 22, clearly points to a growing practice of ad hoc policy formulation according to agendas. What we need is coherent consistent law and policy reform that can address and impact usefully and resolve problems relating to violence against women and girls”, the statement said.
The statement pointed out that This Bill clearly contradicts the national policy of protecting the human rights of women and girls through the much-publicized proposed Gender Empowerment Bill and the National Policy on Women.
We do not know how this policy was formulated, and it clearly ignores current realities in Sri Lanka on the high incidence of sexual abuse of minor children including girls, and the abysmal failures in law enforcement. This has in fact created a culture of impunity and even legitimacy for child sexual abuse.