This handbook is an answer to the need for a text which incorporates factual, analytical and practical aspects of the topic to provide a comprehensive basis for understanding and assisting victims of sexual abuse. Its coverage includes information on the extent of the problem of sexual offences in Singapore, and on the relevant legal institutional provisions (Part I); analysis of the causes of sexual violence and the social and psychological effects of sexual assault (Part II); guidelines on how to help victims of sexual violence (Parts III and IV); and finally some suggestions on how existing services might be improved (Part V).

All too often in situations of armed conflicts, rape and other acts of sexual violence are used as military tactics. The use of sexual violence as a strategy of war is distinctively destructive and not only leaves victims with significant psychological scars but also tears apart the fabric of families and affected communities. Sexual Violence and Effective Redress for Victims in Post-Conflict Situations: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a collection of innovative research that analyzes these crimes and their implications for the needs of victims in post-conflict justice processes and how these needs can be effectively addressed in order to support the affected community. To conduct this analysis, it explores the distinct aspects of these crimes to understand the nature and extent of the social challenges and damage facing the victim, and examines the challenges and limitations of international criminal justice in dealing with a wide range of victim needs. While highlighting topics including judicial accountability, victims’ rights, and criminal justice, this book is ideally designed for psychologists, therapists, government officials, academicians, policymakers, and researchers.

The Department of Defense is unequivocal in its commitment to ensure that victims of sexual assault be protected, treated with dignity and respect, provided proper medical and psychological care, and that the perpetrators of such assaults be held accountable. Task Force Charter On February 5, 2004, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Dr. David S.C. Chu, to undertake a 90-day review of all sexual assault policies and programs among the Services and DoD, and recommend changes necessary to increase prevention, promote reporting, enhance the quality and support provided to victims, especially within combat theaters, and improve accountability for offender actions. Review Methodology On February 13, 2004, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness established an eight member Department of Defense Care for Victims of Sexual Assaults Task Force. The Task Force formulated a review plan, which included the following: Request and analyze sexual assault incidence and demographic data from the Services. Request and assess current DoD-wide, Service-wide and Combatant Command-wide sexual assault policies and programs. Perform literature review on sexual assault, including review of prior studies and reports on DoD sexual assault and related programs. Discuss sexual assault prevention, reporting, response, and disposition issues with commanders, non-commissioned officers, junior enlisted personnel, service providers (medical, mental health, victim advocate, victim witness advocate, chaplains, law enforcement, investigative agencies, and legal personnel), and victims. Consult with subject matter experts within the Department of Defense, other federal agencies, civilian experts, and sexual assault support organizations about matters that should inform our review with respect to prevention, reporting, response, and disposition of sexual assault cases.

Sexual Assault [Rape]: Moving from Victim to Survivor is a collection of facts that encompasses social, psychological, and legal aspects created to help you if you are a victim of sexual assault, or if you are part of a vulnerable population (college students, sexual minorities, military, and human trafficking victims). Also, use this book if you are the family, friend, or professional caring for someone who has been sexually assaulted (nurses, physicians, mental health providers, advocates, attorneys, and law enforcement personnel). The issue of sexual assault victimization is of great concern. President Barack Obama has stated, “Perhaps most important, we need to keep saying to anyone out there who has ever been assaulted: you are not alone. We have your back. I’ve got your back.” The White House is responding to alarming sexual assault statistics in the United States; especially among college students. This book is a response to the White House’s call to speak up; support all survivors; provide resources to students, advocates, and universities; and educate the public on the realities of abuse. Find strength with this book in the variety and relevance of topics covered. The journey begins with a basic definition of sexual assault, walking through the process of what to do after such an event, and ending with how to help someone who has suffered a sexual assault. Learn about victims’ rights, responses/reactions to sexual assault, the forensic (rape) exam, DNA evidence, reporting, law enforcement/criminal justice system, protection order/sexual violence injunction, financial help, alcohol- and drug-facilitated rape, and preventing victimization. I try to balance just the right amount of information and my professional experience to show you, if you are a victim of sexual assault, that you are not at fault; and that you should feel free to seek the help you need and deserve. Because of this common need to return to a normal life, a first step is to acknowledge the pain you are undergoing in order to work through this traumatic experience. This book can help. Likewise, professionals caring for the victim can gain a deeper understanding of the whole process of victimization and help the victim on the road to wholeness. Family and friends can become better prepared to support someone they care about. I leave this book in your hands, which is the result of concise, useful, helpful, understandable, and practical information put together to help individuals be prepared for and become knowledgeable in the process of recovering from sexual victimization.

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Although wartime sexual violence against men occurs more frequently than is commonly assumed, its dynamics are remarkably underexplored, and male survivors’ experiences remain particularly overlooked. This reality is poignant in northern Uganda, where sexual violence against men during the early stages of the conflict was geographically widespread, yet now accounts of those incidents are not just silenced and neglected locally but also widely absent from analyses of the war. Based on rare empirical data, this book seeks to remedy this marginalization and to illuminate the seldom-heard voices of male sexual violence survivors in northern Uganda, bringing to light their experiences of gendered harms, agency, and justice.

The condemnation of wartime sexual violence as a gross violation of human rights has received widespread support. While rape and other forms of sexual violence have attracted considerable local and international attention, this often excludes wartime sexual violence among women belonging to so-called ‘perpetrator’ war-torn nations. This book explores the silence surrounding women’s experiences of wartime sexual violence within academic, legal and public discourses. Olivera Simić argues that the international criminal law and feminist legal discourse on wartime sexual violence can construct a problematic victim hierarchy that excludes and misrecognises certain women’s experiences of sexual violence during and after armed conflict. The book focuses on the experiences of Bosnian Serb women, where the collapse of the former Yugoslavia led to brutal war and gross human rights violations throughout the 1990s. Two decades after the war, women in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still facing the legacies of the violence in the 1990s. Through this case Simić argues that while all women survivors of rape face problems of stigma, shame and lack of political visibility, their legal and symbolic status differ according to their ethno-national identity. Drawing on interviews with Bosnian Serb women survivors of rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina, feminist activists, local media, documentary and archival sources, the book examines ‘post-conflict justice’ as it is seen, lived and interpreted by women who belong to ‘perpetrator’ nations and will be of great interest and use to researchers, students and practitioners within post-conflict law and justice, international criminal law, security studies and gender studies.

This updated and expanded edition provides comprehensive coverage of the theory and practice of counselling survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA). In a reasoned and thoughtful approach, this book honestly addresses the complex issues in this important area of work, providing practical strategies valuable and new insights for counsellors.

This solidly biblical and sensitive guide from two medical and counseling professionals is full of helpful information for Christian communities ministering to children and families recovering from sexual abuse.