ZONDI AJ up the possibility of reprisals from the perpetrator together with the possible lack of support from the police and statistically small eventuality that reporting will actually, eventually, result in a conviction in a criminal court.44 [58] The evidence before us consistently shows that only one in three rape survivors seek assistance from formal social systems.45 Once a person takes the decision to report, the police, the NPA and the courts have a duty to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate the complaint with due regard to the hurdles overcome before reporting. All this means that the decision not to disclose or report, for any length of time, cannot determine the question of guilt or innocence in the case against the perpetrator. [59] In conclusion, it is clear from the preceding analysis that there is no rational basis for the right to prosecute to lapse after 20 years in respect of other forms of sexual offences, and not for rape or compelled rape. Sexual offences may differ in form but the psychological harm they all produce may be similar. [60] Section 18 also undermines the state‘s effort to comply with its international obligations. South Africa is a party to a number of core international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the regional level, South Africa is, among others, party to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People‘s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. These instruments impose a duty on the state to prohibit all gender-based discrimination that has the effect or purpose of impairing the enjoyment by women of fundamental rights and freedoms and to take reasonable and appropriate measures to prevent the violation of these rights.46 A 2008 study conducted by Vetten et al titled ―Tracking Justice: The Attrition of Rape Cases through the Criminal Justice System in Gauteng‖ above n 13 at 7, found that less than half of adult women‘s reported cases resulted in arrest and only one in seven went to trial. Of the total number of perpetrators of rape of adult women, only 4.7% were convicted. 44 45 Ullman et al (2007) above n 13 at 826. 46 Carmichele v Minister of Safety and Security [2001] ZACC 22; 2001 (4) SA 938 (CC); 2001 (10) BCLR 995 (CC) at para 62. 25