Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Paragraph: 15
Mandate specific inclusion of Victims' Code rights for children born of rape in the Bill.
Recommendation
The existing Code makes no reference to rights for secondary victims of crime, specifically rape-conceived persons. Clause 2(4) sets out that the Code may make provision for those not defined as ‘victims’ in clause 1. This provides scope to extend Code entitlements to children born of rape but as drafted lacks the necessary assurances that this will happen and, being unsighted on any draft of an updated Code, we cannot be reassured that provisions in the Code will be extended to that group. We recommend that both the Bill and an updated Code make specific reference to the inclusion of rights under the Code for children born of rape.
Government Response Summary
The government agreed on the need for clarity and intends to explicitly reference persons born as a result of rape in the definitions of a victim in both the Bill and the new Code.
Paragraph Reference:
15
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
11. We thank the Committee for their recommendation, and we agree that there is need for clarity around the entitlements of individuals who have been born as a result of rape. Where persons born as a result of rape have suffered harm, they are already eligible to claim Code entitlements. However, we understand that because the current Code does not explicitly reference them or specify which entitlements they may reasonably claim, some people in these circumstances are not always recognised in practice as victims. To reassure the Committee that the measures in the Code and Bill can benefit this group of victims, we intend to reference persons born as a result of rape in the definitions of a victim in the Bill and in the new Code.