VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD

1. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • SWEDEN • 18% of the women in Sweden have at one time been threatened by a man • 46% of the women in Sweden have been subjected to violence by a man • 13% of the women in Sweden have been subjected to aggravated sexual outside of a sexual relationship. • 92% of women in Sweden who have been subjected to sexual assault have not reported the most recent violent incident to the police.

2. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD IRAQ Zainab Salbi - Between Two Worlds • Zainab was the daughter of Saddam Hussein’s pilot. • She grew up on the private grounds of Saddam’s fortress. There was the appearance of freedom but in fact there was not freedom. • Saddam owned everyone. When they were first ‘invited’ to live on the palace grounds her father talked with her and told her • “You may see the president from time to time when we’re at the farmhouse (part of the palace). You will call him Amo (his familiar name) if you see him… But you are never to say a word about him to anyone else. You are never to talk about how often we see him….” They were sworn to secrecy.

3. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD When in fact Saddam did come to visit … Zainab describes it this way…“The other girls and I were the perfect image of Iraqui women- utterly polite, immaculately dressed, and attentive to his every word. We were highly aware that anything we did wrong, even a slight inflection, a hint of anything, would reflect on our parents” … and could be deadly!

4. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • “The Women of Baghdad knew what I did not fully comprehend at fifteen or sixteen; Uday, the elder of Amo’s (Saddam Hussein) two sons, would later become infamous worldwide for his ‘rape palaces’ where he raped and tortured women. He had finders who tricked young women into going to his parties. Some were drugged and ordered to strip and dance naked for him before being raped.

5. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • In Iraq, a virgin in no longer considered marriageable material is she is raped. If she has an understanding family, they will embrace her and help her ‘cover her honor’ by arranging for her to marry the man who raped her. But if the rapist was Uday, no such negotiation was possible. The woman would be completely at his mercy, forced to join his ‘harem’ of other rape victims who would be handed down to his friends and bodyguards and remain forever vulnerable to his wishes and fantasies.

6. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD INDIA August 18, 1996 NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- In parts of India, husbands regard their wives as property that apparently can be disposed of at will. Indian police say that every year they receive more than 2,500 reports of bride-burning -- a form of domestic abuse often disguised as an accident or suicide

7. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • These women are burned to death over wealth -- because their husbands or in-laws are unhappy with the size of the dowry that accompanied them into the marriage. • The number such cases reported to police is rising, due either to an increase in the number of burnings or to more willingness by victims to report them. And should the woman survive, the toll is heavy.

8. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • Police have set up special offices where women can report cases of domestic abuse, but Mohini Giri, head of India's National Commission for Women, said she believes the authorities need to do more. • "Fire was used by most people who did this kind of crime ... (because) they thought that they will not leave any evidence behind," she said. "Whereas if you use a knife, there is an evidence that someone else has done it."

9. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • Worldwide Sexual Assault Statistics • 1 Out of 3 women world wide has experienced rape or sexual assault (2001) • In some countries up to one-third of adolescent girls report forced sexual initiation(2002) • One preliminary study in eight different countries found a 24.7% rate of sexual violence in dating relationships

10. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • Studies show that 5-10 % of men report a history of childhood sexual abuse (2002_ • A report of seven different countries found that more than 60% of sexual assault victims know their attackers (2003)

11. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD Country %Forced into sex Brazil 10.1% Canada 15.3% Japan 6.2% Mexico 23.0% Nicaragua 21.7% Peru 46.7% Thailand 29.9% UK 23% Zimbabwe 25.0% North America 40.0%

12. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • In South Africa, a sex crime happens every 20 seconds (2000) • 14,000 of the 332,815 reported crimes committed against women in the Russian Federation were rapes.(1993) • Among 95 women interviewed in Papua New Guinea, about half of them said their husbands had forced them into sex. • It is estimated that 1 in 3 American women (30%), will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. • In the US 13% of males will be sexually assaulted during their lifetimes

13. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • In Peru, 90% of 12-16 year old girls giving birth were pregnant from rape and often incest. • In South East Asia, 40% of girls are being sold into prostitution to feed their families.

14. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD Zbanic regarding Bosnia • Victims of mass rapes are being shunned by family and friends. Most of them are stigmatized and excluded from society if people around them come to know the truth. The children conceived in rapes were mostly pushed into orphanages in Bosnia or neighboring Croatia, and in rare cases given for adoption. They grow up knowing nothing about their parents. Officials at orphanages in Tuzla and Zenica in Bosnia and Vladimir Nazor and Goljak in Croatia do not keep track of the children's origin or whereabouts.

15. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • Documents submitted by the wartime Bosnian government in 1993 put the number of rape victims at 20,000 to 50,000. The rapes were described as "the most shameful form of human degradation, humiliating violence and Serb aggression policy."

16. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • Kigali — Rape as a weapon of war is the most notorious and brutal way in which conflict impacts on women. • As the world marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women today, it is important to realize that violence against women is no longer just a violation of women's rights but also as a crime of genocide. • On October 2nd, 1998, history was written in Arusha at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) when rape was officially recognised as

17. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • In Bosnia systematic rape was used as part of the strategy of ethnic cleansing," it said. "Women were raped, so that they could give birth to a Serbian baby • Rape is often used in ethnic conflicts as a way for attackers to perpetuate their social control and redraw ethnic boundaries because women are seen as the reproducers and care takers of the community. • Therefore if one group wants to control another, they often do it by impregnating women of the other community because they see it as a way of destroying the opposing community.

18. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • Rape and sexual abuse are not just a by-product of war but are used as a deliberate military strategy. From the systematic rape of women in Bosnia, to an estimated 200,000 women were raped during the battle for Bangladeshi independence in 1971, to Japanese rapes during the 1937 occupation of Nanking-the past century offers too many examples of the use of rape as a weapon of war. The most recent examples include the 1994 Tutsi Genocide, the war tone zone of Eastern Congo and the Darfur crisis region

19. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • In June this year, the UN Security Council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution classifying rape as a weapon of war (UN1820).The document describes the deliberate use of rape as a tactic in war and a threat to international security. • The resolution indicates that sexual violence "can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security".

20. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD • Speaking at the launch of the resolution, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said violence against women had reached "unspeakable proportions" in some societies recovering from conflict. • He added that the UN was setting up an inquiry to report on how widespread this practice is and how to tackle it. • This resolution has been seen by many as a landmark in the fight against sexual violence against women,