A white paper on sexual offences legislation is currently being drafted and should be presented to the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security by the end of next month.

It is expected that a consultation with all stakeholders will then follow and based on the outcome of the consultation a comprehensive overhaul of legislation addressing sexual offences.

Stabroek News understands that the ministry has hired an attorney-at-law as a consultant and the person is preparing the draft.

This follows the publication of a report by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) in June last year, which called for a reform of the laws and procedures under which justice for the criminal offence of rape is served. The GHRA report made several recommendations and proposals for the reform of the legislation, among which were for the legal definition of rape to be changed and for a complete overhaul in the procedures used to investigate rape allegations.

These proposals will be used and built on, this newspaper understands, to arrive at the basis for the wide-ranging reform of the legislation which the ministry is embarking on.

The GHRA’s recommendations for rape law reform were followed up with a study on sexual violence it published last week in time for International Women’s Day, titled ‘Getting Serious: Detecting & Protecting Against Crimes of Sexual Violence in Guyana’.

Meanwhile, the ministry says it is also getting ready to present its Children’s Bills, which contain several safety mechanisms for children, to Parliament in the next few months.