New legislation passed in Pakistan will see rapists convicted of repeat offences face chemical castration.
Parliament has passed the new anti- rape laws following a spate of attacks on women and children in the country.
Lawmakers have also approved legislation that will allow for quicker convictions through the establishment of special courts, which will fast-track sexual assault cases.
Chemical castration involves the use of medication to reduce testosterone and is typically used to lower libido and sexual activity or alternatively to treat cancer.
It has been used for paedophiles in Indonesia since 2016 and child rapists in Poland since 2006.
The legal change comes after a public outcry over a spate of rapes against Pakistani women and children, as well as the ineffective investigation and prosecution of those sexual violence cases.
A series of measure have been formed through the new legislation aiming to combat sexual assault. These include the creation of a national sex offenders register and the protection of victims’ identities.
According to Mail Online reports, the bill also implements a timeframe for courts nationwide, with courts now having to fast-track hearings for rape cases and reach a verdict within four months.
In addition to this, anti-rape crisis cells in public hospitals will be created, where victims are able to register their assault and receive a medical examination within hours of the cirme.
Repeat offenders could be subjected to chemical castration, under the new laws, while those found guilty of gang rape will be sentenced to death or imprisoned for life.
The legislation was signed off by President Arif Alvi in December last year, and was permanently passed into law in a vote on Wednesday.
The government initially promised action following outcry and protests across the country following the gang-rape of a woman outside the city of Lahore, in September last year.
Two attackers pulled a French woman out of her car, which had broken down at night on a highway near the city, and gang-raped her as her children watched.
Both men were later arrested.
The woman’s car had run out of petrol while she was out with her two children. SHe was taken from the vehicle and raped by the two men, Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali, while calling for assistance.
Protests erupted after the lead investigator Umar Sheikh suggested the woman was to blame for the attack, having been without petrol on a deserted road. The two men were sentenced to death by a Pakistani court in March.
And just months ago, police in Pakistan opened cases against hundreds of unidentified men after the young woman was touched and sexually assaulted by the males in a Lahore Park as she made a TikTok video.
Footage of the horrific incident showed the mob descend on the woman in broad daylight, picking her up and tossing her between them, tearing her clothes and assaulting her as they did so.
The woman subsequently registered a case against 300 to 400 unidentified persons with police.
Sexual harassment and violence against women is common in Pakistan.
Close to 1,000 women are reportedly killed each year in so-called ‘honor killings’ for allegedly violating social expectations on love in marriage.
However, ineffective investigation and prosecution of rape cases are also commonplace, with critics stating fewer than four per cent of sexual assault or rape cases in the country resuling in a conviction.
The low conviction rates along with fears of shame or persecution by police and society deters women from coming forward.
The Pakistani government’s plans to include chemical castration as punishment for repeat offenders was last year criticised by Amnesty International, who said it would “violate Pakistan’s international and constitutional obligations to prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”