In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor Sophia Chote and Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor Faris Al-Rawi are push­ing for the Vic­tims’ Rights Bill, 2026, to be sent to a Joint Se­lect Com­mit­tee, warn­ing that the pro­posed law out­lines pro­tec­tions for vic­tims with­out clear­ly ex­plain­ing how they would be en­forced.

The bill seeks to es­tab­lish stan­dards for the treat­ment and pro­tec­tion of vic­tims with­in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, in­clud­ing their rights to in­for­ma­tion, par­tic­i­pa­tion and sup­port through­out in­ves­ti­ga­tions and pros­e­cu­tions.

Dur­ing de­bate in the Sen­ate yes­ter­day, Chote ques­tioned the bill’s treat­ment of child vic­tims, say­ing that de­spite ref­er­ences to chil­dren’s pro­tec­tion, the leg­is­la­tion of­fered lit­tle de­tail be­yond a pass­ing men­tion in clause 10.