Human Rights Stories No. 2: getting Parliament to engage with the reality of military rape

20th Oct 2021

The author is a survivor of rape that served in the British Army. She explains how she and two other women used the Human Rights Act to get the issue of the handling of serious sexual assaults before Parliament.

‘It is so important that the public understands just how valuable and precious this bit of legislation is – to soldiers as well as civilians – and how we undermine at our peril. It was, quite simply, the only way we could have challenged the Ministry of Defence’s unacceptable approach to the handling of serious sexual assaults in the Armed Forces.’

I was raped while serving in the Army.

I reported it to the military police but after a poor investigation, the man was not charged. I was then bullied by my chain of command and threatened with a disciplinary investigation that would entail a grossly invasive and deeply humiliating inquiry by my Commanding Officer about the night in question. I developed a serious mental health condition and had to be discharged from the Army, bringing to an end a long and successful career.

In February 2020, there was an independent judge-led review of the military justice system. An independent judge and senior police officer recommended that rape cases should no longer be investigated and prosecuted by military police and military prosecutors at Court Martial, but should instead be handled by the civilian police.

I was hugely encouraged by this, believing that this might have made a difference in my case and that it would give future prosecutions in other rape cases a greater chance of success and ensure better support for victims.  But the Defence Secretary rejected the recommendation on the same day that the Review was made public, and there was no opportunity for any of us to express support for the proposals, or for there to be any public or parliamentary consultation or debate about it at all.

With two other rape survivors, I used the Human Rights Act to challenge the Defence Secretary’s flippant rejection of the Review’s recommendation. In response to the claim, the Defence Secretary agreed to think again. He ordered a review of all of the MoD’s policies on the handling of sexual offences, agreed to ensure that all service personnel were informed of their right to report rape to the civilian police and agreed to put the entire matter before Parliament for a full debate. That then resulted in a special provision being included in the Armed Forces Bill, which is passing through Parliament right now, that will require civilian and military prosecutors to develop and agree a protocol on the handling of such cases.  While that clause does not go as far as we would have liked, it is an important step in the right direction and has raised the profile of this important issue before MPs and the public in a way that has not been possible before. I am also very proud of the policy review that we secured that I hope will improve services to future victims of sexual crime in the Armed Forces.

Our judicial review was only possible because of the Human Rights Act. It is so important that the public understands just how valuable and precious this bit of legislation is – to soldiers as well as civilians – and how we undermine at our peril. It was, quite simply, the only way we could have challenged the Ministry of Defence’s unacceptable approach to the handling of serious sexual assaults in the Armed Forces.

The author was a serving member of the British Army. In 2020, with two other service women, she took the Defence Secretary to court over his decision to reject the Lyons Review recommendations on the handling of serious sexual offences.

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