The Helen Clark Foundation is calling for urgent changes to modernise New Zealand's laws to better protect victims of sexual violence. Photo / 123RF
The Helen Clark Foundation is calling for urgent changes to modernise New Zealand's laws to better protect victims of sexual violence. Photo / 123RF
The Helen Clark Foundation is calling for urgent changes to modernise our sexual violence laws to keep pace with technological and societal changes.
In New Zealand, nearly one in four adults (24%) reported having experienced sexual assault in their lifetime.
The foundation’s report released today identified crucial gaps inNew Zealand law, such as updating the definition of consent and banning deepfakes.
“New Zealand will never have a fair, inclusive society while so many New Zealanders, especially women, are subject to sexual violence,” former Prime Minister Helen Clark said.
“Despite efforts by successive governments to tackle this issue, this report shows that our laws and practices remain inadequate.”
Children and young people, Māori, sexual and gender minorities, and disabled people are disproportionately affected.
Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand. Photo / NZME
What needs to change?
The report identified four areas where there is potential for change, one of which was the definition of consent.
“The current definition of consent does not reflect the ‘yes means yes’ messages that are already being taught in New Zealand, including by police,” the report said.
Current law sets out a range of situations in which consent is not present; it does not provide a definition of what consent is.
The report said the country’s law opened up the possibility that consent can be inferred.
It recommended the need for an “affirmative definition” of consent by providing that a person does not consent if they do not say or do anything to communicate it.
One of the report proposals was to update the definition of consent. Photo / 123RF
The report also recommended that juries or judges should be required to take into account what, if anything, the accused did or said to check whether the complainant consented, when establishing whether there was a reasonable belief in consent.
In addition, it sought to ban the non-consensual creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes.
“Currently, the law requires depictions of real nudity or proof of an intent to cause harm as part of an offence,” the report said.
It recommended the adoption, with a small modification, of the Deepfake Digital Harm and Exploitation Bill (2025).
This would modify the Crimes Act and the Harmful Digital Communications Act to include AI-generated imagery in the definition of “intimate visual recording”.
The report also sought to prohibit the non-consensual creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes. Photo / Getty Images
The report also suggested eradicating the practice of “virginity testing”.
It said “virginity testing” has no clinical or scientific validity and is considered discriminatory and inhumane.
While it is not explicitly illegal in New Zealand, it is understood to be practised in some communities.
The project recommended several steps in line with UN recommendations, including improved education for medical practitioners and legal professionals, research to inform community-led interventions, and legislation changes.
The report’s final proposal was to make changes to the justice system to reduce underreporting of sexual violence and increase the number of reported cases that progress to trial and verdict.
The Helen Clark Foundation report proposed some changes to the justice system. Graphic / Supplied
It suggested police and the Government should provide survivors with a wider range of reporting options and more information on the legal process and available support services.
It urged a need for an increase in in-person support, and a reduction in pre-trial delays and secondary trauma during trial.
Overall the report, which is funded by the Clark Foundation, urged a widespread need for education, support and public campaigns aimed at prevention.
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