South Asian survivors struggle to access rape compensation

A new SAMAJ report finds that survivors of sexual violence across South Asia face underfunded, inconsistent compensation systems that are hard to navigate and often tied to long criminal justice delays. The coalition says governments must create or strengthen victim compensation funds so survivors can access support quickly, without waiting for a conviction.

Why it matters: - Sexual violence can leave survivors with medical bills, counseling costs, transport expenses, legal fees and lost income. - In South Asia, those costs often arrive before any compensation does. - When emergency support is unavailable, survivors can be pushed into informal settlements or abandon formal justice altogether. - The report says that weak compensation systems can help perpetrators avoid accountability and leave survivors to pay the price of pursuing justice.

What happened: - The South Asian Movement for Accessing Justice, or SAMAJ, released The Good Practices Paper on Compensation for Survivors of Sexual Violence in South Asia on July 23, 2026. - The report examines compensation schemes in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. - SAMAJ says many systems are underfunded, inconsistently implemented and difficult for survivors to use. - The coalition argues that financial support is often delayed until after long investigations, trials and administrative steps.

The details: - Survivors commonly face immediate costs for emergency medical treatment, counseling, transport, legal assistance and, in some cases, relocation for safety. - Many survivors also lose time at work or school, lose livelihoods or face lower earning potential because of physical and psychological harm. - The report identifies low awareness among survivors and justice officials, low conviction rates and slow fund disbursement as major barriers. - In Pakistan, many survivors receive no compensation even after conviction because judges have broad discretion over whether to award it. - In Bangladesh, courts awarded compensation in just 6.8% of reviewed rape cases. - Bangladesh does not have a national victim compensation fund. - Dalit and Adivasi women, Indigenous women, religious minorities and children born as a result of rape face additional barriers tied to discrimination, poverty and exclusion. - Women with disabilities often face inaccessible information, inaccessible public offices and officials who do not understand disability-related needs. - In the Maldives, services such as forensic exam capacity, trained counselors, shelters and legal aid are concentrated in Malé and a few other urban centers. - The Maldives' island geography makes timely medical and forensic documentation harder and more expensive. - Public data on compensation awards in the Maldives is limited. - Sri Lanka has a statutory Victims' Assistance and Protection Fund and a national authority structure, but access remains uneven. - Survivors in conflict-affected areas, Tamil communities and other marginalized groups in Sri Lanka face particular difficulty getting assistance and reparations. - In Nepal, survivors of the 1996-2006 civil war remain largely excluded from compensation because no legal reparation mechanism has been enacted. - India and Nepal are presented as the region's most developed models because neither system requires a criminal conviction before compensation can be considered. - Nepal's Crime Victim Protection Act 2018 created a central Victim Relief Fund to pay compensation when an offender cannot. - India requires states to fund victim compensation schemes and uses Legal Services Authorities to assess and process claims. - India's Supreme Court recently ordered courts nationwide to consider compensation in all sexual offense cases. - Manjula Pradeep of the National Council of Women Leaders said a Dalit survivor in Uttar Pradesh was able to leave home for safety, return to court and pursue a law degree after receiving government grant assistance.

Between the lines: - The report frames compensation as a practical test of whether legal rights mean anything for survivors in daily life. - India and Nepal show that compensation can be designed as an enforceable right rather than a reward tied to conviction. - The report also suggests geography, caste, disability, language and conflict history shape whether survivors can actually reach support. - The biggest gap across the region is not just law on paper, but systems that deliver money quickly, consistently and with dignity.

What's next: - SAMAJ wants Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Maldives to create national victim compensation funds that do not depend on a criminal conviction. - The coalition is also calling for interim disbursement systems so survivors can get emergency help for medical care, psychosocial support and transport. - SAMAJ wants governments to enforce court-ordered compensation, publish annual data on awards and payments, and standardize victim-fund guidelines. - The group is urging local-language and accessible-format information, plus explicit reparations frameworks for conflict-related sexual violence in Nepal and Sri Lanka. - Divya Srinivasan of Equality Now said governments should legislate where the law is missing and fund and enforce it where it already exists so compensation becomes a reliable right.