Sexual assault survivors have human rights too

Serial evader of responsibilities Julian Assange has been detained arbitrarily by the Swedish and UK governments, according to a UN panel of experts, who published the results of their 16-month investigation today.

I don’t understand how they arrived at such an astonishing conclusion. Assange is free to submit to the rule of law at any time. His arguments against doing so are bunk.

Whenever my thoughts turn to this subject they dwell on the survivors of sexual abuse and rape in Sweden. By choosing to remain a fugitive, Assange denies them the very justice he claims to champion. Justice that today seems further away than ever.

Perhaps some noble panel of UN experts might deign to investigate their plights next.

9 thoughts on “Sexual assault survivors have human rights too

  1. Which opinion? My opinion. As I said. This is my blog, who else’s opinion did you expect?

    In my opinion, Assange is choosing to evade justice in Sweden, and should go there to face his accusers so that he can either be proven innocent or found guilty. In my opinion, his reasons for not doing so are bunk, legally speaking. In my opinion, it is a travesty that sexual assault survivors in Sweden have been denied justice for years, and that everyone seems to focus on Assange’s situation rather than their plight.

    I understand that you and others disagree with me. That’s fine – but it does not change my opinion.

    • Also the correct forum for judging whether an offence has been committed, and if so whether Assange committed it, is a court of law not the court of public opinion. The article to which you linked is very much the latter – and it makes me sick. One reason so few sexual assault survivors achieve justice is that we’d rather believe they’re making up their allegations than that rape is so common.

      I stand with the survivors.

          • All I’m pointing out is that:
            1. The UN panel look at these cases for ordinary citizens ALL of the time, lets hope they’re still there should you need them
            2. The case against Assange is a lot more complicated than first meets the eye, and that ‘justice’ for those accused of rape in Sweden is not the same as in other countries. They are kangaroo courts on rape cases.

            We disagree, it’s fine. I never said I was right – Or that you were wrong. Just that there is a lot more to this than just the headlines. If it turns out that he eventually faces his ‘justice’ perhaps we can have a sensible conversation about it rather than getting shirty?

  2. You expressed two separate opinions. One is your view on Assange, the other on the UN panel! I did not ask who’s opinion, did I? That is obvious, as you rightly pointed out.
    It seems that you and the rest of mainstream media are not reading past any of the headlines. I just wanted to point this out, firstly on your opinion of an internationally recognized group that deals, professionally, with these cases – year after year, for ordinary citizens of the world. Then when it wasn’t clear which opinion you were referring to I provided a second article which explains why there isn’t even any case against him to face ‘justice’ against

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