Protecting victims of sextortion worldwide

by TrustLaw
Monday, 3 August 2015 16:59 GMT

Sextortion – as termed by the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) - is the abuse of power to obtain a sexual benefit or advantage. The only difference between sextortion and other forms of corruption is that the currency of the bribe is a sexual favor, rather than a financial benefit.

The cost of sextortion is exceptionally high for women’s equal rights as citizens, their health, and their basic human dignity. Yet corruption involving sexual exploitation – or “sextortion” – generally escapes measurement in standard corruption analyses and is less likely to be reported or prosecuted than other forms of corruption.

Through Trustlaw, the International Association of Women Judges collaborated with Marval, O’Farrell and Mairal and seven other law firms to produce a guide outlining laws and practices relating to sextortion in nine jurisdictions to explore effective legal tools to help strengthen justice systems, protect and empower victims, and ensure they get access to justice.

“We did not have the capacity to do this kind of international research on our own. Working with law firms connected through Trustlaw allowed us to look into the prevalence of sextortion in different regions as well as confirm our sense of what legal barriers were present” said Nancy Hendry, Interim Executive Director of IAWJ.

Currently, the International Association of Women Judges is in conversation with a range of European law firms to replicate the project in different countries in an effort to continue to raise public awareness of sextortion and gain the support of legislators to end the harmful act worldwide.

Read more here.

----

This project has been nominated for the 2015 TrustLaw Collaboration Award. Learn more about the TrustLaw Awards.


Update cookies preferences