South Asian survivors face barriers to sexual violence compensation

A new SAMAJ report says survivors of sexual violence across South Asia often cannot access compensation they are legally entitled to because systems are underfunded, slow and unevenly enforced. The findings point to especially steep gaps in Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Maldives and for marginalized communities, while India and Nepal are held up as models for reform.

Why it matters: - Sexual violence can leave survivors with medical, legal, transport and relocation costs, along with lost income and reduced earning potential. - When compensation is delayed or unavailable, survivors are pushed toward debt, informal settlements or abandoning formal justice entirely. - SAMAJ says stronger compensation systems are essential to make survivor rights real, not just written into law.

What happened: - The South Asian Movement for Accessing Justice, or SAMAJ, released The Good Practices Paper on Compensation for Survivors of Sexual Violence in South Asia. - The report examines compensation schemes in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. - SAMAJ says many systems are underfunded, inconsistently implemented and hard to navigate.

The details: - Survivors often face long criminal justice timelines before compensation is considered. - Delays in investigations, trials and administrative steps can leave survivors paying costs while waiting for support. - Lack of awareness among survivors and justice officials remains a barrier. - Low conviction rates and delayed fund disbursement also limit access. - In places without interim support, survivors may choose between an expensive legal process and an out-of-court settlement under pressure. - Coerced settlements are widespread across South Asia, and SAMAJ links that trend to the lack of emergency compensation. - In Pakistan, judges have broad discretion over compensation after conviction, and many survivors still receive none. - In Bangladesh, courts awarded compensation in just 6.8% of reviewed rape cases. - Bangladesh also lacks a national victim compensation fund.

Between the lines: - The report suggests compensation policy is only as strong as its implementation. - Survivors from Dalit, Adivasi, Indigenous and religious minority communities face additional barriers because discrimination and poverty make reporting and navigation harder. - Children born as a result of rape also face added obstacles. - Women with disabilities may encounter inaccessible information, buildings and procedures, while justice officials may not understand disability-related needs. - The Maldives faces unique access problems because services and forensic capacity are concentrated in Malé and a few other urban centers. - Sri Lanka has a statutory Victims' Assistance and Protection Fund, but access remains uneven, especially for survivors in conflict-affected areas and Tamil communities. - Survivors of Nepal’s 1996-2006 civil war remain largely excluded because no legal mechanism for conflict-era reparations has been enacted.

What India and Nepal show: - India and Nepal have the region’s most developed compensation frameworks, and both separate compensation from the need for a criminal conviction. - Nepal’s Crime Victim Protection Act 2018 created a central Victim Relief Fund to pay compensation when offenders cannot. - India requires states to fund victim compensation schemes and uses Legal Services Authorities to assess and process claims. - India’s Supreme Court recently directed courts nationwide to consider compensation in all sexual offence cases after finding implementation gaps. - Manjula Pradeep of the National Council of Women Leaders said a Dalit survivor in Uttar Pradesh used government grant support to leave home for safety, return to court and pursue a law degree.

What’s next: - SAMAJ is calling on governments, donors and civil society groups to create national victim compensation funds in Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Maldives. - The coalition wants those funds to operate independently of criminal conviction. - SAMAJ also wants interim disbursement systems for emergency medical care, psychosocial support and transport. - Governments should strengthen enforcement of court-ordered compensation, publish annual data on awards and payments, and standardize fund guidelines. - SAMAJ is urging local-language and accessible information, plus explicit reparations frameworks for conflict-related sexual violence in Nepal and Sri Lanka. - Divya Srinivasan of Equality Now said compensation should be a right survivors can rely on, not a matter of geography.

The bottom line: - SAMAJ’s report argues that South Asia already has the legal building blocks for survivor compensation, but too many systems fail at delivery, leaving the most vulnerable survivors without timely help.