Sir, - An experience of rape, sexual assault or sexual abuse, at any stage in life, is an experience of complete loss of power. For the duration of the assault the assailant (or assailants) takes all power over the victims' body; what will happen, when it will stop, how much injury will be inflicted etc. For the duration of the assault, or assaults, the victim has no rights over his or her body or person. Recovery from an experience of such profound and utter powerlessness can only begin with the returning of power in all decisions to the survivor. "No intervention which takes away power from the survivor can possibly foster her recovery, no matter how much it appears to be in her immediate best interests" (Herman J., Trauma and Recovery, Pandora, 1992).
The Network of Rape Crisis Centres, Ireland, fully supports a survivor's right to control his/her recovery. This is one of the reasons that we remain opposed to the introduction of mandatory reporting. Survivors of sexual violence have the right to counselling and support. This counselling must not be conditional on the victim reporting the abuser.
Whilst we continue to support survivors of sexual violence in reporting the crimes committed against them, we continue to believe that it must be the survivor's choice whether or not to report. The introduction of mandatory reporting will mean that many survivors of sexual violence will feel alienated from counselling, where they will not have a choice as to reporting the abuse. This will only result in further isolation and powerlessness for survivors of sexual violence. This is not the road to take in the journey of bringing sexual abuse into the open in our communities.
The Network of Rape Crisis Centres continues to lobby for adequate funding for rape crisis centres in Ireland. Whilst our Government continues to speak of services for victims of abuse, rape crisis centres which provide these services remain under-funded, with some centres operating on budgets of as little as £15,000 per annum. It is long past time that rape crisis centres received the funding necessary to provide services in their areas. - Yours, etc., Fiona Neary,
National Coordinator, Network Rape Crisis Centres, Ireland, Galway.