UN Committee holds that the UK failed to protect woman prosecuted by man she accused of rape

06/11/26

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has held that the UK failed in its obligations to protect victims of alleged sexual violence, in particular by permitting private prosecutions to be brought against them by alleged perpetrators. It recommends reform of the law to ensure effective safeguards are in place to help protect women from retaliation and revictimisation by those they accuse of rape.

The communication, brought by the Centre for Women’s Justice on behalf of the alleged victim’s father, is a landmark decision and the first ever finding not only of an admissible complaint against the UK but also of a violation by the UK.  

Following on from the tragic facts of the communication, in which a young woman had committed suicide before her trial for perverting the course of justice, the Committee found two violations:

• First, that the UK’s legal framework, which allowed an alleged perpetrator to initiate criminal proceedings against a rape complainant, without effective safeguards from the outset, could disproportionately affect women and discourage victims from reporting sexual violence. It concluded that her treatment amounted to indirect discrimination and that the UK had failed to exercise due diligence to protect her from discrimination and revictimization.
• Second, that when the CPS took over and continued the prosecution, it failed to give sufficient weight to the alleged victim’s situation as a rape complainant living with bipolar disorder and to the potential cumulative harm caused by the proceedings. It concluded that continuing the prosecution discriminated against the alleged victim, violating her rights to equality before the law and effective access to justice under the Convention.

As explained in the Committee’s own press release: “This decision goes to the essence of CEDAW's mandate on substantive equality and its well-established jurisprudence on indirect discrimination”, as “Litigation should not be allowed to exploit power imbalances or turn criminal proceedings into a means of intimidating women who report sexual violence.”

The CEDAW Committee’s decision can be found here, and its press release here.