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Domestic violence against women rises: Survey
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-25 13:40
Domestic violence against women is rising and most of the culprits are
spouses or intimate partners, according to World Health Organization (WHO) study
on violence against women.
People
walk past a billboard in Beijing advocating an end to domestic violence.
[newsphoto.com.cn] |
The survey, conducted on
more than 24,000 women in 11 countries,found that most women had experienced
physical and sexual assaultsby their violent spouses or partners rather than by
strangers.
Around 4-12 percent of the abused women had been beaten while pregnant with
most of the attackers being their husbands.
The findings showed that a quarter of abused women suffered physical and
mental problems which drove them to consider committing suicide as a way to end
their suffering.
The abuse remains largely hidden with at least 20 percent of the respondents
said that they never reported physical violence against them.
Despite the health consequences, some 55-95 percent of the abused never
sought help from the from formal agencies such as health clinics, police or
other people in authority.
In Thailand, which ranks fourth among the 11 countries, about 65 percent of
all women who have been physically or sexually assaulted have had the acts
perpetrated by their partners.
The Public Health Ministry's One Stop Service Crisis Center reported that
from October of 2004 to October this year, a total of 10,241 abuse victims had
sought treatment from 97 public hospitals. Half of the victims were youngsters
aged less than 18.
"The study has given us a better understanding of the extend of violence that
women experience here, and it helped us develop a national plan for the
elimination of violence against women and children," Dr Churnrurtai
Kanchanachitra from Mahidol University was quoted by The Nation newspaper as
saying Friday.
Domestic violence can be prevented only when the government and communities
were mobilized to fight the widespread public-health crisis, said WHO's study
coordinator Dr Claudia Garcia Moreno.
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