The Rape Survivors' Justice Campaign advocates for the planned and funded rollout of sexual offences courts. These courts are the key to restoring faith in the criminal justice system as well as increasing conviction rates for rape and decreasing the secondary victimisation of rape survivors.
Sexual Offences Courts are specialized courts that specifically deal with sexual offences and provide special services to survivors. These courts are sensitive to the survivor and help to: reduce the trauma, speed up cases, make better court judgements thanks to better skilled court personnel, increase reporting of rape and increase convictions.
We achieve change by following a multi-layered approach.
We raise awareness among stakeholders about the campaign and the need for sexual offences courts. These stakeholders include the communities we work in and fellow members of various coalitions. We then mobilise our stakeholders to join us when we host public demonstrations or other events.Our lobbying activities focus on the government departments responsible for the rollout of sexual offences courts as well as the parliamentary structures responsible for overseeing the work of these government departments. In order to lobby these decision makers, we do constant research.
In our efforts to raise awareness among stakeholders and lobbying decision makers, we make use of formal media and social media in order to amplify our message.
The idea of Sexual Offences Courts was developed in South Africa. Eventually, this concept earned recognition across the world as something highly efficient. In 2013, a new Sexual Offences Court Model was developed as a way to set out the requirements for other Sexual Offences Courts. They have specially trained prosecutors and magistrates as well as a special court room, a separate waiting room for adult witnesses/survivors, a separate waiting room for child witnesses/survivors, and a special testifying room with CCTV equipment.
