US: Military Whistleblowers At Risk as Retaliation for reporting sexual assault

[niyad]

US: Military Whistleblowers At Risk as Retaliation for reporting sexual assault


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US military sexual assault survivors make banners inscribed with their sexual assault experiences in the US Navy. They later hung the banners in front of Naval Base San Diego.
© 2014 Mary F. Calvert

(Washington, DC) – US military service members who report sexual assault frequently experience retaliation that goes unpunished, Human Rights Watch said. The report is the result of an 18-month investigation by Human Rights Watch with the support of Protect Our Defenders, a human rights organization that supports and advocates for survivors of military sexual assault. Despite extensive reforms by the Defense Department to address sexual assault, the military has done little to hold retaliators to account or provide effective remedies for retaliation.

The 113-page report, “Embattled: Retaliation against Sexual Assault Survivors in the US Military,” finds that both male and female military personnel who report sexual assault are 12 times as likely to experience some form of retaliation as to see their attacker convicted of a sex offense. Retaliation against survivors ranges from threats, vandalism, and harassment to poor work assignments, loss of promotion opportunities, disciplinary action including discharge, and even criminal charges.


“The US military’s progress in getting people to report sexual assaults isn’t going to continue as long as retaliation for making a report goes unpunished,” said Sara Darehshori, senior US counsel at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. “Ending retaliation is critical to addressing the problem of sexual assault in the military.”

The exclusive mechanism intended to protect service members from employment-related retaliation, the Military Whistleblower Protection Act, has yet to help a single service member whose career was harmed, despite the prevalence of the problem. Defense Department surveys indicate that 62 percent of those who report sexual assault say they experienced retaliation. Congress should strengthen the law to give service members the same level of protection as civilians, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch, with assistance from Protect Our Defenders, conducted more than 250 in-person and telephone interviews, including with more than 150 service member survivors of sexual assault. The report relies primarily on the accounts of 75 survivors who are currently serving or left the military in 2011 or later. Human Rights Watch also examined numerous US government documents produced in response to public record requests, and analyzed data about administrative decisions in which service members had sought corrections to their records in relation to a sexual assault. The research included all branches of the US military.

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https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/05/18/us-military-whistleblowers-risk

[libodem]

1. Thank you, Niyad

For your tireless work in behalf of all women. You are the real deal.

[niyad]

2. you are most welcome. I still find it hard to believe that in the second decade of the 21st century

we are still having to fight these battles, and the situation is getting worse.

[libodem]

3. The military is a prime example

Of a white male hiarchial system gone rougue. Same problem with sports teams.

[niyad]

4. I was there during Tailhook and its aftermath, and I personally knew four women who were

thrown out of the navy when they reported their assaults. and that was just in one year.

you are quite correct about the white mail hierarchical systems. they are fighting back harder than ever.

[renate]

5. it's a very long report but I strongly recommend it

I'm a civilian; I had absolutely no idea what life in the military is like, although I do have friends and family in the armed forces and they do like it, so I realize it's not all awful. The betrayal by people who are supposed to be your comrades, and then the lack of action on the part of the higher-ups, must be so incredibly painful. The things that rapists and abusers in the military get away with... anybody thinking of joining the military (because men are raped too) but women in particular need to read this.

[niyad]

7. there have been countless reports, and the military always says it is dealing with this

horrific situation, but it never gets better.

[niyad]

6. . . . .