Countries: Taiwan
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"As a young woman growing up in Taipei in the 1980s and ’90s, I [author]was taught to expect sexual harassment. Many clothing shops sell so-called safety shorts for women and girls to wear under their skirts to thwart peeping Toms. We have designated women’s waiting areas in metro stations with enhanced surveillance. The message? Creeps happen, but the burden is on us, women and girls, to change our behavior to protect ourselves" (para 9). "'You’re overreacting.” “He doesn’t mean anything by it.” “Don’t be so full of yourself. You’re not even that hot.” “You should be grateful for the attention.” Or the best one: “He’s just being nice.” These and...more

Countries: Iran
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"One gauge of the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime is that there are credible reports that it is enforcing its supposedly strict moral code by arresting women and girls accused of advocating immodesty, and then sexually assaulting them" (para 1). "In a searing report about the rape of protesters by security forces, CNN recounted how a 20-year-old woman was arrested for supposedly leading protests and later was brought by the police to a hospital in Karaj, shaking violently, head shaven, her rectum hemorrhaging. The woman is now back in prison" (para 2). "Hadi Ghaemi of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a watchdog organization in New York, told me...more

Countries: Bolivia
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1, LRCM-PRACTICE-2

"Brisa [victim of sexual violence], like 1 in 3 girls in Bolivia, is a survivor of sexual violence. Raped repeatedly for months by an adult family member when she was 15, Brisa endured three legal trials in Bolivia but did not get the justice she deserved. Instead, she faced inhuman treatment from the Bolivian courts. In 2010, Brisa brought her case in front of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which later concluded that the State had failed to properly investigate and prosecute her case, and in doing so, violated her internationally protected human rights" (para 3, 4). "Brisa’s [survivor of sexual violence] intention in taking her case to...more

Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1, EWCMS-PRACTICE-3

"Sandhurst [the training center for prospective Royal Army officers] is plagued by a ‘toxic culture’ of sexual assault as hundreds of women report abuse during service training, it was alleged last night...Over two decades, 177 women have sought help after suffering abuse at officer training site Sandhurst, it said...Paula Edwards [of Salute Her UK] said that of 3,170 women on its database, over half were raped while in the Armed Forces. Officers have already promised to improve the culture at Sandhurst after the suicide of cadet Olivia Perks, which exposed a culture of incidents between instructors and recruits. The Daily Mail has previously revealed similar allegations of abuse in the...more

Countries: Guatemala
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1, DV-PRACTICE-1

"It has taken the judicial system years to get around to properly investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the deaths and the alleged [sexual] abuse [of girls in a domestic violence shelter]. Eight people – the former director of the shelter, five senior government officials, and two policemen – have since June 2017 faced charges of abuse of power, breach of duty, culpable homicide, child abuse, and neglect" (para 4,5).

Countries: Australia
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"Gold, cash, property, cars and women’s salaries are being demanded by the families of some grooms in the South Asian-Australian community, despite dowries being banned in India. Demands for gifts 'were continuous and abusive, including instances of sexual extortion', research on Australia’s community of Indian and South Asian people has found" (para 1-2). "A 2018 Senate inquiry into dowry abuse heard it had resulted in violence, extortion and a spate of suicides and murders" (para 19).

Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"According to a report by The Telegraph, the victims of sexual abuse said that after they sought help from the military’s departments of community mental health (DCMH), they were 'written off' with emotional disorders. The women were later eventually medically discharged" (par. 2). "The chief executive of Salute Her UK, a charity organisation working to assist military women who have experienced sexual assault, Paula Edwards said that victims are being 'overdiagnosed or misdiagnosed' to get rid of the problem" (par. 4).

Countries: India
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"Society and government institutions often excuse and protect men from the consequences of their sexual violence. Women are blamed for being assaulted and are expected to sacrifice freedom and opportunity in exchange for personal safety. This culture contaminates public life — in movies and television; in bedrooms, where female sexual consent is unknown; in the locker room talk from which young boys learn the language of rape. India’s favorite profanities are about having sex with women without their consent" (Para 4). "Indian men may face persecution because they are Muslims, Dalits (untouchables) or ethnic minorities or for daring to challenge the corrupt powers that be. Indian women suffer because they...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1, DV-PRACTICE-1

"Women cannot access justice agencies and in most areas their petitions asking for justice cannot not be heard, which will increase the deepening violence against women" (para 6).

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

In the conflict in the DRC, people rape women in front of their children. Dr. Gisele Ndaya Luseba, former Minister of Gender, Family, and Children, established a center for women who have experienced domestic and sexual violence where they can receive help. There are four steps to helping these women: psychological help, judicial help (they go after their aggressors), medical help, and reintegration back into society. The first step is psychological help. Because the women who have been raped or experienced sexual violence are very traumatized, they don’t respond when they see a man. They scream and run and try to hide. Thus, in Kinshasa and in the provinces, the...more

Countries: Guatemala
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"In 2020, [The School of Judicial Studies] adopted a working protocol for virtual hearings in the criminal justice system and a protocol for virtual hearings with a victim-centred approach in coordination with magistrates’ courts, tribunals and courts specialized in trying the crime of femicide, sexual violence and other forms of violence against women. From 2020 to November 2021, the courts responsible for trying cases of femicide and other forms of violence against women held 12,560 virtual hearings" (3).

Countries: Japan
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"The recommendations presented to the justice minister come after a series of rape acquittals that sparked outcry, and will form the basis for draft amendments that could be enacted by parliament later this year" (para 3). "Japanese protestors take to streets of Tokyo amid a series of acquittals in rape cases" (para 6). "Protesters gather at the rally called 'Flower Demo' to criticise acquittals in court cases of alleged rape in Japan" (para 8). "This has meant even teen rape survivors face the same high bars to prosecuting perpetrators that adults do" (para 10). "In practice, regional ordinances banning 'lewd' acts with minors are sometimes seen as effectively raising the...more

Countries: D R Congo
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"Girls are subjected to sexual and gender-based violence, including rape, in school by teachers" (10). "Women working in artisanal mining are forced into prostitution and are subjected to sexual and gender-based violence" (15). "The environmental and sanitary impacts of the industrial exploitation of copper and cobalt from the Frontier Mine, near Sakania, lead to the drying up of the river, affecting access for women and girls to safe water and to education, exposing them to rape and sexual violence and depriving them of their incomes earned from their agricultural activities" (16).

Countries: Honduras
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"This small measure would leave the existing ban for most women, as only a tiny percentage of rape survivors seek out medical attention" (para 8). "More complicated is the issue of femicide, which preliminary data shows continues at a slightly reduced rate under Castro’s government compared with last year. Two bills aimed at combatting violence against women have so far stalled in Congress" (para 11).

Countries: Central African Rep
Variables: LRW-PRACTICE-1

"The United States welcomes the first verdict issued by the Special Criminal Court (SCC) on October 31 against Issa Sallet Adoum, Yaouba Ousmane, and Mahamat Tahir, all members of the rebel group known as 3R. In the judgment, the accused were convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes for severe violence committed in a massacre of at least 46 civilians in May 2019. The verdict, which is subject to appeal, comes on the heels of other successes for the SCC and Central African authorities, including the arrest of two former Central African Armed Forces members and one ex-Séléka militia general on charges of crimes against humanity. The achievements of...more