Understanding the Victim Assistance Models for Survivors of Sexual Abuse : A Comparative Study of South Africa, Brazil and India

Abstract

The evolution of the phenomenon of victim assistance emerged in the United States and spread through Europe via multiple international instruments. In Indian context, the discourse still centers on financial assistance and other forms of assistance services receives scant legislative recognition. It is crucial to appreciate the fact that the realities of a society including crime rates, socio-economic conditions, persisting societal disadvantages shapes the schemes and policies of the society and these policies are expected to be primarily focused in addressing the complex needs of the victims of crime with intersecting identities in order to build an inclusive and safer society for the victims. Against this backdrop, the authors in this paper proposes to conduct a comparative examination from a global south perspective by reviewing the victim assistance models of South Africa and Brazil to test its coherence with the Indian legal structure particularly focusing on victims of rape and sexual violence. The rationale behind the selection of these jurisdictions is grounded in the fact that South Africa and Brazil continue to report alarmingly high levels of sexual victimization against women while simultaneously receiving international recognition by UN Women for innovative victim-support measures. (UN Women, 2016). Although India follows an adversarial legal system distinct from those of South Africa and Brazil, contemporary scholarship increasingly emphasizes on the need to move beyond rigid categorizations of legal systems in comparative socio-legal analysis. Through this analysis, the paper seeks to contribute to the evolving discourse on survivor-centric justice and context-sensitive models of victim assistance in the Global South. The paper is divided into four chapter, first being the introduction to the notion of victim assistance, second being the research methods and the third chapter is on the discussion of this comparative study and the fourth chapter concludes the paper.