Nearly one in three women worldwide, about 840 million individuals, has experienced domestic violence or sexual violence outside of marriage during her lifetime, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday, expressing regret over the lack of significant progress in tackling violence against women in recent years.
Violence against women remains one of the most persistent and least recognised human rights crises globally, with very little progress made over two decades, WHO stated.
In just the past 12 months, 316 million women - 11% of women aged 15 and older - fell victim to violence by an intimate partner, according to the international organisation.
The reduction of domestic violence has been “painfully slow,” WHO stressed. This type of abuse has decreased each year by just 0.2% over the past 20 years, it said.
WHO policy officer LynnMarie Sardinha noted that increased awareness may drive more reporting, which could result in figures appearing stagnant over time. She emphasised that this dynamic needs to be considered when evaluating the data.
For the first time, the WHO report also includes estimates of sexual violence perpetrated by someone other than an intimate partner.
Findings show that 263 million women have experienced such violence since the age of 15. Experts believe these figures remain significantly “underreported” due to societal stigma and fear.
