The number of cases of sexual violence has increased over the past 14 years, but the number of victims who report such offenses is very low. Experts say such a situation is due to the stereotypes existing in society and to the fact that the victims of sexual violence have a difficult path through justice. These are some of the findings of the study “Ensuring of access of victims of sexual violence to appropriate legal and social protection”, which was carried out by the Center of Investigations and Consultation “Sociopolis”. The study was commissioned by the International Center for Women Rights Protection and Promotion “La Strada”.

“Sociopolis” director Diana Cheianu-Andrei, in a news conference at IPN said that according to statistics, over 350 cases of rape were recorded in 2014. In reality, the number of rapes is much higher as not all the cases are reported to the law enforcement bodies.

Diana Cheianu-Andrei said the prejudice and stereotypes in society are one of the causes that prevent many of the victims from going to the law enforcement bodies. “The largest part of the population does not perceive rape as an offense. Moreover, conjugal rape is regarded as an obligation,” she stated.

According to the director of “Sociopolis”, the stereotypes existing in society are also due to the professionals from the rule of law bodies who should provide assistance to the victims. “When a victim of sexual violence goes to the police, this is most often encouraged or persuaded not to write a complaint against the aggressor so that a criminal case is not started. Thus, many specialists said that our society, instead of sympathizing with the victims, supports the aggressors,” stated Diana Cheianu-Andrei.

The victims also refuse to report the cases of sexual abuse because it is hard to obtain justice. The study shows that the victims are sometimes re-victimized by specialists with whom these interact such as police officers, medical examiners, prosecutors and judges. There are also legislative barriers that lead to lack of affective protection from aggressors and a low rate of convictions, accompanied by mild penalties.

The victims of sexual violence do not go to the law enforcement bodies because there is no clear working methodology for the police to deal with cases of sexual violence and the state of the victim is not taken into account. The specialists interviewed within the study said the victim has to relate what happened for several times and this can lead to profound re-traumatization. It was also established that the police start the criminal case not when the victim reports the abuse, but when this is subject to a medical examination.

Also, the legislation does not offer a special status to the victims of sexual abuse, compared with the victims of other abuses, and thus these do not have confidence in the law enforcement bodies and society.

The study “Ensuring of access of victims of sexual violence to appropriate legal and social protection” was aimed at analyzing the access of the victims of sexual abuse to legal and social protection. The managers on duty in the legal and social protection system and the persons affected by social violence were the target group of the study.