Sexual Harassment and Assault and its Effects on International Students

Studying abroad is one of the most key aspiration among most brilliant students looking for the opportunity to prove their mantle and skills in the international education field therefore in order to be successful brilliant students need to be vigilant and aware of the ongoing issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault that are prevalent in all international universities including Queen’s university among others around the globe.

Victims of sexual violence, assault Avis Kozar and Sieoka who are graduates of Queens University of Canada question the administration of the University for not taking formal approach towards complaints regarding the issue and are of the opinion that the not enough action is being undertaken by the administration as almost 60 people have summited complaints regarding sexual offence on their @consentatqueens Instagram page.

University Administration answer towards allegations

The Queens University administration response towards the allegations by Avis and Sieoka were that they initiate response upon complain and take it quite serious case whereas the entire campus is responsible towards sexual violence prevention. Avis and Sieoka believe there is prevalent rape culture present on the university campus which is encouraged by silencing or threatening victims of sexual harassment as due to unviability of data regarding complaints of sexual violence it is difficult to ascertain if justice has been provided to the victims.

Sexual assault a rising concern for Canada universities

A recent study published in 2020 reported 1/3 quarter of Canada university students experienced undesired sexual behavior in 2019 associated with students on or off campus. A survey carried out regarding sexual assault in 2018 reported that University of Ontario student’s 63% s having been victim of sexual harassment and 23% students having non consensual sexual touching.

Need for sexual violence legislation

Graduate Sieora and Avis are forming student groups to bring up matters of sexual behavior, violence and related investigations to the fore front. The Mcmaster University students are asking for review of sexual assault policy. Almost 4000 students of Qubec have signed petition for the amendment of privacy laws towards sharing of information regarding sexual offenders. University of Alberta requested their provincial government to amend legislation and to track sexual offence through the process of student surveys.

Need for transparency regarding sexual complaints

The University of Ontario was one of the first to raise the bill regarding “sexual violence and harassment action plan” in the year 2016 following review every 3^rd year. The state of Qubec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba applied their own versions of the sexual offence legislation. Under the Qubec law universities and schools are banned from sharing sexual victim information. Many students remanded establishing certain protocols towards the sexual offence as were inconsistencies regarding sexual assault reporting and case follow-up.

Karen Busby who is currently a professor teaching constitutional law, human rights and gender base violence at the University of Manitoba is a well known activist as she contributed towards” Canadian Yearbook of Human rights” towards asking for measure to be taken towards sexual offence policies. Many Canadian Universities overhauled their policies regarding sex offenders in the year 2017 but Karen Busby was of the opinion that sexual complaint reporting process needs to be transparent for more accountability towards the victim.

Sexual behavior victimization

In the wave of the pandemic many Universities are in the process of rewriting and reviewing their policies regarding sexual harassment and offence but very few are advocating to publically sharing their data. Graduates like Avis Kozar and Sieoka are seeking transparency of sexual complaint data for their safety as they believe if they are heard the issue will be taken seriously and fixed and this act will encourage people to reach out in case of sexual offence victimization.