How Military Sexual Assault Victims Are Taking The Fight For Justice International
ThinkProgress reports:
After seeing their claims denied in American courts, twenty survivors of military sexual assault have collaborated to take their grievances beyond the country’s borders and have their case heard before the hemisphere’s only international human rights body.
The petitioners — seventeen women and three men — filed their complaint earlier this year with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an independent body of the Organization of American States. Composed of the majority of the Western Hemisphere’s countries, the United States has been a member — and advocate — of the OAS since its founding, using its considerable influence to marhsal Latin America into a unified position. According to the documents filed with the IACHR, the petitioners accuse the United States of violating their rights under the American Convention on Human Rights in denying them justice in the courts.
The survivors all reported being sexually assaulted during their time serving in the military, across all branches of the armed services. “In most instances, the petitioners’ claims were not investigated or when investigated, the perpetrators received no to minimal punishment,” the court document filed with the IACHR reads. Many of them faced retribution for their coming forward, the document states, with some demoted or outright expelled from service. “In the majority of instances, reporting the rapes led to the termination of petitioners’ military careers. The rape victims were not able to take any actions that civilians may take to protect themselves from sexual predators, such as calling the police, going to a shelter, changing housing or jobs, or relocating.”
