The most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of
women in the world.

Latest items for LRW-PRACTICE-2

April 30, 2025, 12:05 p.m.
Countries: China
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Ms. Huang emerged as an important activist in China’s burgeoning #MeToo movement in early 2018, when she created a social media platform for reporting sexual harassment. She organized and published surveys that found it to be rampant in universities and workplaces. A champion of women’s right to speak out about harassment, Ms. Huang also described having been subjected to it herself by a colleague at a national news organization" (par. 6). That Ms. Huang had to set up a platform for reporting sexual harassment suggests that there was not a method to report before or it was not likely people would report (IME - CODER COMMENT).
April 29, 2025, 4:20 p.m.
Countries: Rwanda
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Florentine, now in her late 20s, says she was afraid to tell her mother what had happened. About a month later, she missed her period" (par. 7). This is an indicator that women fear reporting rape (IME - CODER COMMENT).
April 17, 2025, 5:10 p.m.
Countries: United States
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"O’Malley, who worked in a rape crisis center in the 1970s before becoming a sex crimes prosecutor and then D.A., pointed out that from law enforcement to courts, women still face stigma and ignorance when it comes to sex crimes" (para 12). " For example, not every county [in California] has a designated hospital where forensic exams can be done. Especially in rural areas, getting proper care and treatment for sexual assault survivors is challenging" (para 14).
April 17, 2025, 4:55 p.m.
Countries: Bolivia
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Nevertheless, the Committee notes with concern… That the definition of rape and statutory rape in the Criminal Code is incompatible with human rights standards and that girls can file a complaint of sexual violence only with parental authorization or the assistance of a service organization or ombudsperson... The limited support services for survivors of gender-based violence, including the lack of psychosocial counselling, legal assistance, adequate shelters and the lack of resources for the comprehensive municipal legal services" (7).
April 15, 2025, 7:13 p.m.
Countries: China
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"There is a lack of statistics in relation to women who receive legal aid for domestic violence and sexual harassment and sexual assault. Some serious cases of abuse did not receive legal services and legal aid" (3).
April 11, 2025, 4:20 p.m.
Countries: Bhutan
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Social stigma and prevailing public attitudes towards sexual violence, including the belief that it is a private matter, contribute to low levels of reporting in sexual violence cases. There are also low levels of awareness on available support services for survivors of sexual violence, compounded by lack of accessibility to such institutions particularly for women and girls living in rural areas" (4-5).
April 11, 2025, 3:49 p.m.
Countries: Indonesia
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Not all forms of sexual violence can be legally processed in courtship, such as sexual harassment and sexual exploitation. In article 285 of the Penal Code, the definition of rape is very limited because there should be 'a penetration of penis' and at least there should be a witness to confirm the act of sexual violence. In most sexual violence it is difficult to find evidence or witness thus victims find it difficult to get justice. Impunity towards perpetrators of sexual violence due to the perspective and stereotype of law enforcement officers still blaming the victim and in many cases threatening victims to revictimizing, especially if the victim is still...more
April 10, 2025, 7:06 p.m.
Countries: Venezuela
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"In particular, it notes with concern… The low number (5) of shelters for victims of gender-based violence against women, despite the requirement of at least one shelter per department in the Act on Women’s Right to a Life Free from Violence" (6).
April 10, 2025, 10:05 a.m.
Countries: India
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"It was only last week, after the video of the women being abused began trending and the prime minister spoke out, that the police finally made arrests – almost 70 days after the case was filed" (para 5). "The family also alleged the police have done nothing to investigate the case. On the day of the incident, a police report was filed but made no mention of rape, and it wasn’t until the mother of one of the victims filed a new case that the complete events of the murders went on record, according to a police report seen by the Observer. 'Since then, we have not heard back from...more
April 4, 2025, 9:14 a.m.
Countries: El Salvador
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2, DV-PRACTICE-2

"As of 2019, there are 81 specialized institutional support units for women affected by violence, with coverage in the country’s 14 departments, in the following institutions: the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s Office, the Public Prosecution Service, the Office of the Human Rights Advocate, the National Police, the Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Ministry of Health, Women’s City and the Salvadoran Institute for the Advancement of Women. In addition, 12 local victim support offices have been established by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Institutions that provide shelter services for women affected by violence include the Salvadoran Institute for the Advancement of Women, the National Police, the Salvadoran Institute...more
April 2, 2025, 5:23 p.m.
Countries: Dominican Republic
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"The Ministry of Women reports that during the state of emergency declared by the Covid-19 pandemic, between March 17 and June 28, 2020, it provided 2,322 services through its hotline and in coordination with the National System of Emergency Care, 911... The services of the Línea Mujer *212 and Las Casas de Acogida, declared as essential services during the pandemic" (5). "Allocate sufficient public resources to expand the capacity and territorial coverage of the shelters, which are the responsibility of the Ministry of Women's Affairs" (6). This implies that there are shelters, but they need to be improved (ELW - CODER COMMENT).
April 1, 2025, 8:12 p.m.
Countries: Ukraine
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Often, the victims are left suicidal and fearful of telling anyone about the abuse they endured due to the crippling stigma and shame surrounding rape. This means the true scale of wartime sexual violence in Ukraine may never be known" (para 7). "For many women, the trauma that they have endured - and the stigma surrounding rape in a conservative nation like Ukraine - means that they will never tell a soul what happened to them, let alone report it to the authorities" (para 30). "'She showed me her injuries and the bruises on her body,' Ms Gorbunova says. 'It has stuck with me ever since - she said she...more
March 28, 2025, 6:01 p.m.
Countries: South Korea
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"The 33-year-old woman had attempted suicide twice: the yearslong investigations and trials had been that stressful. Even then, she said she had only reported a fraction of the sexual abuse she’d suffered, fearing she might be punished for false accusations if her allegations were dismissed under South Korea’s strict rape law. 'This is the painful reality faced by victims on the ground. Yet these politicians only keep talking about so-called false sex crime accusers as a winning strategy for elections,' said the woman, who requested not to be named for fear of public shaming. The politicians she refers to are now in charge. President Yoon Suk-yeol came to power in...more
March 28, 2025, 5:46 p.m.
Countries: North Korea
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Equally troubling, some 70 percent of respondents had never heard of North Korea’s Women’s Rights Protection Law (a 2010 law that establishes basic protections and rights for women), and only 16.7 percent had ever received education about women’s rights" (para 5). "While North Korea does have a petition system that allows women to voice complaints about their circumstances – including corruption and sex crimes – the survey found that most respondents believe the system is useless, and some even did not know where to file petitions" (para 15).
March 28, 2025, 2:19 p.m.
Countries: Peru
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"It notes with concern… That young women are unable to access the courts or to personally report cases of gender-based violence against women without an adult present, and that indigenous women, rural women, women land right defenders, women with disabilities and lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and intersex persons are often harassed and denied services when seeking to access justice" (5).
March 27, 2025, 7:22 p.m.
Countries: Cambodia
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"There are exactly 6 shelters in Cambodia as of July 2019, all run by NGOs and collectively serving the needs of an estimated 200,000 women who suffer physical and sexual violence annually" (5).
March 26, 2025, 4:56 p.m.
Countries: D R Congo
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Women who venture to the army outposts to complain about insecurity take immense risks. Soldiers deployed in conflict zones act with almost complete impunity, frequently targeting women and girls with sexual violence. The UN reported that, in 2021, the military and police were responsible for about 29 percent of conflict-related sexual violence in Congo. 'They say Congo is a rape capital,' says Justine Masika, who leads an association in Goma that advocates for victims of gender-based violence. 'But I say the women of Congo are strong because they don’t remain victims. They become actors of change'" (para 16-17).
March 21, 2025, 5:08 p.m.
Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Three-quarters of respondents to the survey of rape and sexual assault survivors said their mental health was damaged 'as a direct result of what police did, or failed to do, in their case' and only four in 10 said they would report again, according to researchers. But a radical overhaul of the way the criminal justice system deals with rape since 2021 is showing the first 'green shoots' of improving victims’ experience of the criminal justice system, with respondents after July last year 8% less likely to report damage to their mental health because of the police. Only two in five respondents agreed that policing is doing a good job...more
March 21, 2025, 4:44 p.m.
Countries: Central African Rep
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Like most women and girls, Awa did not alert the police. 'The white soldiers are above the law,' says Sandrine*, Awa’s grandmother. 'Nobody will punish them for what they did.' Awa did not seek or receive any medical attention. Her mother and grandmother, like many women in CAR, feared the stigma that follows speaking up about sexual violence. 'If she goes to the hospital, she may meet someone who could judge her or even tell other people about what happened to her,' says Sandrine. 'It wouldn’t be nice for her to be stigmatised'" (para 17-19).
March 21, 2025, 3:28 p.m.
Countries: Switzerland
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Only eight percent of women surveyed who experienced sexual violence reported the assault to the police" (2).
March 21, 2025, 3:12 p.m.
Countries: Finland
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Annually around 50,000 women in Finland experience sexual violence. However, only around 1,500 sexual crimes against adult women are reported to the police. Less than 10% of all rapes are reported to the police and of those reported, around 30% result in a trial. There are currently eight Sexual Assault Support Centres in operation, while the recommended number is 13. The centres assist victims aged 16 and over, and whose experience of sexual violence has occurred within the last one month" (6). "The HRC [Human Rights Committee] also noted the insufficient number of shelters and rape crisis centres, especially in remote rural areas" (6). "In Finland, support services for survivors...more
March 20, 2025, 1:55 p.m.
Countries: Mauritania
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"Unfortunately, the government’s prosecution for zina and its failure to ensure access to justice, effective remedies, and care facilities for sexual violence survivors violates several human right laws and conventions including Article 2 of the CEDAW Convention, which obliges states to remove all national penal provisions that discriminate against women. As a response to this, in its reply to the List of issues raised by the committee in 2014, the government of Mauritania has enacted various awareness-raising campaigns to encourage women and girls who were victims of rape to file a formal complaint, and it has provided in-service training for judges and law officers to ensure there is a clear...more
March 19, 2025, 11:07 p.m.
Countries: Uganda
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"More recently, in response to rising cases of violence during the lockdown imposed by the corona virus preventive measures, the Uganda Police Force with support from UN Women established a dedicated toll-free hotline for reporting and responding to cases of violence against women and girls" (2).
March 19, 2025, 10:26 p.m.
Countries: Canada
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

Table 12, titled "Violent victimization in the past 12 months, by type of victimization, gender of victim, and selected incident characteristic, provinces, 2018," shows that 5% of sexual assault cases with female victims are reported to police. 93.4% of such cases are not reported (para 43). Note that this data comes from a survey, not police records. 95% confidence intervals for each statistic are available in the table but are not listed here (ELW - CODER COMMENT).
March 19, 2025, 10:12 p.m.
Countries: Iraq
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2, NGOFW-PRACTICE-1

"The federal government has prevented NGOs from operating shelters, while making scant efforts to establish functioning government-run shelters" (6).
March 15, 2025, 11:45 a.m.
Countries: Lebanon
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"The Committee notes with concern the lack of gender-sensitive investigations, prosecutions and evidence-gathering procedures, and reports of judicial gender bias, which jeopardize women’s access to justice and effective remedies, in particular in cases of sexual and other forms of gender-based violence against women" (5). "[There are a] lack of victim support services, including the limited number of adequate shelters in the State party" (7). "The Committee welcomes the information provided by the delegation during the dialogue on the provision of health services to women victims of gender-based violence, including rape" (12).
March 14, 2025, 7:59 p.m.
Countries: Indonesia
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2, LRCM-PRACTICE-2

"[S]tigma against survivors of violence is still very high in Indonesia, where violence is still considered a disgrace for women and their families. This makes survivors reluctant to report cases and is more complicated if it occurs for WUD [women who use drugs], where the use of drugs is criminalized presenting additional obstacles in accessing justice" (12).
March 14, 2025, 4:48 p.m.
Countries: Venezuela
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2, DV-PRACTICE-2

"The telephone hot line 0800-Mujeres (0800-6853737) provides legal advice and general information especially designed for female victims of violence. In the period from 2014 to 2018, 42,240 calls were received. In 2019 and 2020, the service was affected by serious damage to the national electrical grid caused by terrorist activities and the unilateral coercive measures made it impossible to obtain spare parts. The service managed to recover in November 2020" (8). "Between 2015 and 2020,180 persons (65 women, 61 girls and 54 boys) sought protection and safety in shelters of the Ministry of People’s Power for Women and Gender Equality. These confidential and secure shelters provide temporary accommodation, protection, care...more
March 11, 2025, 5:10 p.m.
Countries: Iceland
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2, DV-PRACTICE-2

"Drífa Snædal, who is on the executive committee of the women’s strike and is a spokesperson for Stígamót, a counselling and education centre for sexual violence" (par. 16).
March 5, 2025, 8:35 p.m.
Countries: Ecuador
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-2

"The Attorney General’s Office has 308 gender-competent prosecutors’ offices (235 multipurpose unit and 73 gender units) throughout the country. For its part, the Ministry of the Interior has 1,575 community policing units and 16 community surveillance units for the country. The Council of the Judiciary has 37 judicial units specializing in violence, covering 23 provinces and 49 cantons; five criminal law judicial units on violence against women, covering four provinces and nine cantons; 23 criminal multipurpose judicial units covering 13 provinces and 34 cantons and 107 multipurpose judicial units. In 2019, the Council of the Judiciary incorporated 111 new judges, reaching a total of 807 officials in specialized units, including...more