Home › Recent News › 2026 › Access to justice for survivors of sexual violence requires rights-based legislative responses

Access to justice for survivors of sexual violence requires rights-based legislative responses

August 11, 2026 | Activity

Panel of six women seated at a long ornate table during a formal discussion, with microphones, glasses, and name placards in front.

Ensuring effective access to justice for survivors of gender-based sexual violence remains a major challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite legislative progress in several countries, institutional, procedural, and geographic barriers continue to impede reporting, protection, and redress.

These challenges were at the heart of the meeting Barriers to Accessing Justice in Cases of Sexual Violence, held in Montevideo and organized by the Parliament of Uruguay, Equality Now, CLADEM Uruguay, and Proyecto Ikové, as part of the Regional Day of Solidarity with Victims and Survivors of Sexual Violence. Inaugurated by Carolina Cosse, Vice-President of Uruguay and President of the General Assembly, the event brought together public officials, women parliamentarians, specialists, and representatives of civil society and international organizations to exchange perspectives on how to strengthen institutional action on sexual violence.

The program also featured the report Strengthening Access to Justice for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Uruguay (in Spanish), which identifies challenges impacting the effective implementation of existing frameworks. Its recommendations include integrating a consent-based approach into criminal law, ensuring effective investigations, and strengthening training for justice-sector professionals to prevent revictimization.

From a parliamentary perspective, Member of the Chamber of Representatives Margarita Libschitz Suárez (Uruguay), Vice-President for South America of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality, emphasized the importance of mainstreaming gender considerations throughout legislative processes and advancing public policies that remove obstacles to justice and reinforce protection mechanisms.

As a tool to support this work, A Guide to Legislating on Sexual Violence, jointly developed by ParlAmericas and Equality Now, provides guidance on aligning legislation with international human rights standards, through a consent-based approach.

Reflections shared during the meeting reaffirmed that eliminating barriers to access requires coordinated responses. Such efforts must include survivors of sexual violence in decision-making and place their rights at the centre of public responses, helping build justice systems that are more accessible, effective, and free from discrimination.

  • Woman with curly hair and oversized brown glasses speaks into a microphone at a panel, a tablet in front of her.
  • Spanish poster announcing a consent‑focused guide to legislate sexual violence, with a pen illustration on blue and a purple QR code
  • Panel of four women seated at a long table with microphones in a wood-paneled room, mid-conversation during a panel discussion.
  • Six panelists sit at a long wooden table in a marble room with tall windows and a city view outside, microphones and nameplates in front of them.
  • Panelist with purple hair and teal glasses speaks into a microphone; nameplate reads Lic. Sofia Quiroga in front of her at the conference table.