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resources to perform its functions. In its 2022 annual report, the office
reported receiving 17,035 complaints, of which 70 percent were within its
scope and of which 62 percent were satisfactorily resolved.
The autonomous, state-funded National Commission for Human Rights
advised the government on protection of human rights. It was considered
independent, effective, and adequately resourced.
Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses
Women
Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalized rape (including of men),
as well as spousal and domestic or intimate partner rape and other forms of
domestic and sexual violence, including “corrective rape” of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex, or other sexual minorities
(LGBTQI+) persons. Rape of a person, regardless of gender, and attempted
rape were punishable by minimum 10 years’ imprisonment, and up to life
imprisonment in cases of gang rape, multiple rapes by the same perpetrator,
or rape resulting in death. Charges could be pressed without a survivor’s
complaint. If a survivor did not wish to seek prosecution, the prosecutor
could decide to drop charges. There were isolated reports of police holding
survivors on criminal defamation charges pending resolution of rape
allegations, although this was contrary to official policy. The law applied
equally to all survivors, regardless of gender, although members of
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2023
United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
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