One in three Women sexually abused Worldwide: Survey
Pakistan Times National News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Advisor to the Prime Minister Nilofer Bakhtiar has categorically stated that violence against women in Pakistan will have to be reduced.

In this campaign every patriot man and woman must rise above political positions. She was responding to certain questions regarding Regional Conference on Violence against Women being inaugurated today (Wednesday) by the President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf.

A survey conducted by Sohail Safdar Federal Secretary Woman Development Division, in United States of America a woman is being raped every 90 seconds.

In India 1.9% of the total population of women over 16 years of age has said that they were sexually assaulted in the previous 5 years.

In Pakistan every year 1,000 women are killed in the name of "honour". In Canada 29% women reported being physically assaulted by a current or former partner since the age of 16.

England and Wales

In England and Wales 4.9% of women have reported rape or sexual assault on at least one occasion since the age of 16. In France 25,000 women are raped per year. In India nearly 45 %of married men acknowledged physically abusing their wives.

In United States a woman is battered, usually by her husband/partner, every 15 seconds. In Pakistan 32% of the perpetrators of domestic violence are husbands and 53% are male relatives.

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh 50% of all murders of women are committed by their partners. In India there are close to 15,000 dowry deaths estimated per year, mostly kitchen fires designed to look like accidents.

In Afghanistan rape including a significant occurrence of mass rape, rape of women and girls from minorities in the north, nomadic women and girls, female aid workers and their female members, has been a common and recurrent manifestation of the current insecurity.

Sexual violence affects the physical, emotional, mental and social well being of the victim. Rape is also associated with unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. It is underreported because of the social stigma attached to it.

Around the world, one in five women will be victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Women are increasingly used as primary targets of armed groups and rape is often used as a weapon of war.

During conflicts, women are physically and economically forced into prostitution, sometimes in order to survive.

Around the world, at least one in every three women, or up to one billion women, have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in their lifetime. Usually the abuser is a member of her own family or someone known to her.●