After more than 20 years of lobbying and drafting, the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022 (ASHA) was finally enacted and gazetted in October 2022. The noble intent of the Act to address the prevailing problem of sexual harassment in the country. The Act provides remedies to the victim in the form of apology and financial compensation from the perpetrator. However, the practical usability of the legal protection is questionable.
The aim of this project is to fill the enforcement gap left by ASHA. The objective is to highlight the disabling factors in the Act that forms the hurdles to the road towards ensuring safety to girls and women; then to mobilise civil society organisations (CSOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (collectively known as “first-responders”) to empower victims of sexual harassment (SH) to enforce their right for legal redress afforded by ASHA.