The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women says violence has become a global pandemic against women, whereby one out of every three women around the world is either raped, beaten or mistreated.
Studies indicate that approximately 35 percent of women worldwide are subject to physical abuse, sexual abuse or both. This violence is in direct violation of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Beijing Declaration, which was adopted by 189 countries in 1995, called for putting an end to all forms of violence against women and girls. It has defined violence against women as any act of violence based on gender and resulting in harming women physically, sexually or psychologically.
Manifestations of violence against women include domestic violence, such as beating and sexual assault on girls, marital rape and forced marriage, and community violence, such as rape, assault, harassment, intimidation at places of work, women trafficking, forced prostitution and forced abortion. They also include acts of violence perpetrated or condoned by the state, such as forced sterilization, compulsory use of contraceptives and female genital mutilation.
Although the laws in two-thirds of the world's countries prohibit community violence against women, only 52 countries criminalize marital rape, while 2.6 billion women and girls live in countries that do not criminalize it.
According to statistics released by the United Nations on the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, 4.5 million people around the world are victims of sexual abuse, of whom 98 percent are females. Seven hundred million girls have been forced into early marriages and 250 million of them were married before the age of 15.
The statistics also note that there are 133 million girls and women who were forced to undergo female genital mutilation in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where this is common practice. This phenomenon has been reduced by one-third when compared to 30 years ago.
Equality Now, an international organization striving to end violence and discrimination against women and girls, says 44 countries violate the laws of women's rights and the terms of the Beijing Declaration, adding that countries like Lebanon, Malta, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Peru and Uruguay do not penalize kidnappers if they marry their victims.
The Beijing Declaration urges governments to condemn violence against women, refrain from invoking violent traditions, punish perpetrators of such practices and encourage research into the causes of violence against women and the nature and seriousness of the consequences.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
