Human rights and social justice organisation Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) is again urging Parliament to implement the wider recommendations for the long-standing issue of offering greater protection for men and boys who have been buggered.

Under the present law a man or boy cannot be raped. And so the JFJ told the Jamaica Observer that expanding the definition of sexual intercourse provides equal protection for men and women, and removes the possibility of perpetrators escaping with reduced sentencing for equally heinous crimes.

“Political will and bravery is needed to address this matter. Our men and boys need protection too. The current legislation doesn’t allow for men to be raped because the definition of sexual intercourse really speaks to penile vaginal penetration. So even in instances where a young girl, for example, is anally penetrated forcibly by an offender, then that technically is not rape,” executive director of JFJ Mickel Jackson said in an interview.

“And the same for our men and boys — they can’t be raped in law because of that definition of sexual intercourse, and Parliament has not acted on it,” she said.

On December 5, 2006, a joint select committee of Parliament proposed reforms to the Offences Against the Person Act to provide a statutory definition of rape and sexual intercourse, extending the definition of rape beyond vaginal penetration by a penis.

In addition, it said the offence of rape would have become gender neutral, meaning, by law, it could be committed by a male or female against both male and female.

“Disappointingly, when you read the joint select committee’s report, they indicated that to amend the definition of sexual intercourse, it may run awry of buggery… it will have implications for buggery, and it may run awry of the savings law clause. So they wanted to put it to a referendum, which JFJ is staunchly against,” Jackson lamented.

She said the organisation has, for years, been calling for an amendment of the definition of sexual intercourse.

“Broaden it in scope to allow for the definition of rape to so be impacted. Buggery carries a sentence of 10 years maximum, whereas if you commit rape, there is a possibility of a life imprisonment being imposed. So a girl or woman who is raped, their offender can get life imprisonment. The offender of a man or a boy who is buggered only gets 10 years,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“That sort of disparity really needs to be addressed. At this point, we need to see the broader joint select committee report being implemented.”