Legal Aid in South Asia Is Failing to Reach Sexual Violence Survivors

DHAKA, Bangladesh, May 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Across South Asia, alarmingly high rates of sexual violence stand in stark contrast to extremely low conviction rates. Women and girls often encounter overwhelming legal, institutional, and social barriers when seeking justice - including weak enforcement of laws, lengthy delays in investigations and trials, and a lack of accessible survivor-centred legal support. State-run legal aid programmes in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka have been established to assist marginalised communities, but the specific needs of sexual violence survivors are not being met, with many excluded or struggling to navigate complex legal systems.

Improving access to legal aid

To address these challenges, the South Asian Movement for Accessing Justice (SAMAJ) - a coalition of civil society organisations from Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka - has produced Exploring Legal Aid Mechanisms: Lessons from South Asia. This insightful advocacy brief gives practical guidance to States, legal aid providers, law enforcement, justice sector actors, and civil society on how to improve the quality, accessibility, and responsiveness of legal aid to ensure access to justice for all sexual violence survivors and victims' families.

Written by legal and women's rights experts, the brief presents regional and country-level analysis and identifies deficiencies in criminal justice responses that routinely compromise the quality and effectiveness of investigations, legal representation, and prosecutions.

"Sexual violence survivors in South Asia frequently experience stigma, discrimination, and long delays in criminal justice systems. These failings discourage many from seeking justice and enable perpetrators to avoid accountability," explains Nawmi Naz Chowdhury, from Equality Now, SAMAJ's Secretariat.

"While state legal aid exists, it remains out of reach for many. Women and girls often don't know about services, and legal aid systems are slow, complicated, and regularly fail to meet the specific needs of sexual violence survivors. To improve access to justice, we call on governments to bolster legal aid delivery by ensuring services are timely, well-funded, survivor-focused, and easily accessible for all."

Increasing awareness about legal aid rights and services

The landmark report, Sexual Violence in South Asia: Legal and Other Barriers to Justice for Survivors, co-authored by Equality Now, found sexual violence laws are often inadequate and poorly implemented. Survivors commonly face further victimisation - from both their communities and the justice system - leaving women and girls at heightened risk of abuse, and justice unobtainable.

SAMAJ's brief identifies how legal aid remains significantly underutilised due to low public awareness. Delays and inefficiencies within justice systems fuel backlogs, with survivors waiting years for cases to advance and receiving minimal updates.

Intersectional discrimination

Intersecting forms of discrimination based on sex, gender, age, disability, caste, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, and religion must be addressed, with services tailored to meet the distinct needs of marginalised groups such as Dalit and Indigenous communities.

In Bangladesh, legal aid organisations have piloted case management systems prioritising support for women and girls with disabilities and from Indigenous communities. Such models open pathways for State-led services to improve outreach and reduce case backlog.

Legal aid systems need more funding

Underfunding in legal aid systems hinders innovation and the expansion of survivor-focused services. Without adequate resources, legal aid institutions are unable to customise support to meet survivors' diverse requirements.

Insufficient state funding and the limited availability of skilled legal aid lawyers with rights-based training lead to poor-quality legal services. Rural areas suffer worse shortages of well-qualified state-funded lawyers, leaving many survivors with little option but to remain silent or abandon cases.

S. Perumal from ADECOM Network says, "In rural India, access to legal aid still depends on who you know or how far you're willing to travel. Survivors of sexual violence need trained, sensitive lawyers, and they need them nearby. It is critical that we invest in building local legal aid systems that actually deliver justice."

In Bangladesh, public prosecutors are often political appointees, and no accountability mechanism exists to ensure effective performance. Without clear training requirements or service standards, many prosecutors do not communicate with survivors, causing frustration and retraumatisation. Survivors report having to bribe court officials just to track their case status.

"Survivors in Bangladesh face long delays, stigma, and systemic neglect. When legal aid is not automatic, and prosecutors are absent or unaccountable, survivors are left with no choice but to give up. We need legal aid to work for the most vulnerable, not just those who can afford to push through," explains Manish Biswas from Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST).

SAMAJ emphasises the need for stronger enforcement of laws and calls for legal reform to close protection gaps. Governments should monitor the quality of legal aid services, support innovation, and strengthen partnerships between legal aid institutions and civil society organisations, as collaboration enhances service delivery. Sustained funding for recruitment and training of lawyers, awareness-raising about services, and investment in long-term, survivor-centred solutions are also crucial.

Media Contact:
Aakansha Saxena
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SOURCE South Asian Movement for Accessing Justice (SAMAJ)