Pakistan has approved the chemical castration of rapists as part of sweeping new legislation sparked by the outcry over the gang rape of a mother on a motorway. The new laws will see rape cases expedited through the courts and create the country’s first national sex offenders register. In September, protests erupted after a mother was raped on the side of the road in front of her children when her car broke down near Lahore.

Prime Minister Imran Khan responded by calling for the chemical castration of rapists, which involves using drugs to reduce a person’s libido. Rights activists have meanwhile warned that the provision of chemical castration could affect Pakistan’s international human rights obligations. Amnesty International’s Pakistan campaigner, Rimmel Mohydin says that chemical castrations are cruel, inhuman and degrading and will leave the flawed criminal justice in place.

Header image: EPA