UN report says only 11% rape cases reported across the world

New Delhi, Jul 7: With the rising cases of brutal rape and sexual assault cases across the globe, here comes the UN reports that says across 57 countries on an average, 10% of women say they have experienced sexual assault, of them, only 11% reported it.

"This pattern is evident in countries across all regions," said the report of the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women. "Only a fraction of cases end in a conviction or just outcome." Hence, this revealed that women haven't yet overcome the stigma of filing an report against sexual assault.

In European countries, according to the survey, only 14% rape cases have been reported and have ended in a conviction. There are 127 nations that don't explicitly criminalise rape within marriage, 61 that severely restrict abortion rights, and 50 that have a lower legal age of marriage for women than for men.

The report that released on Wednesday, Jul 6 is expected to shape the society through its laws by creating new norms and by helping to bring about social change, critical gaps in legal frameworks remain worldwide.

The report also cites an example of the case of Indian gang rape victim Bhanwari Devi, whose fight, undiscouraged due to the absence of existing sexual harassment laws that finally prompted the Indian government to introduce a long-awaited bill prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace in 2007.

Devi's case didn't see its end in India itself but, it also inspired the neighbouring Bangladesh government to issue detailed guidelines that have the force of law. "In rich and poor countries alike, the infrastructure of justice -- the police, the courts and the judiciary -- is failing women, which manifests itself in poor services and hostile attitudes from the very people whose duty it is to fulfil women's rights," the report said.

OneIndia News