UN report: Family still the most dangerous place for domestic violence against women
In the United Nations' detailed report "The Progress of the World's Women," the family is described as a place to love and be loved, a place where people turn for support and nurturing, but the same report warns that the family is also a place where women are subjected to violence and discrimination in various parts of the world.
“The family is the site of violence and discrimination against women and girls, and indeed, where violence against women and girls begins,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngwaka, Executive Director of UN Women, on Tuesday, June 25, while launching the report “Families in a Changing World,” a study of the state of women worldwide in 2019 and 2020.
He said: "Cases of violence against women by close relatives are so numerous that the family can be considered the most dangerous place for women and girls."
According to statistics presented in this report, in 2017 alone, 137 women lost their lives every day in different parts of the world due to domestic violence.
In one in five countries, or 20 percent of countries, women and girls do not have equal inheritance rights as sons, and in at least 19 countries, women are required by law to obey their husbands. In developing countries, a third of women told UN rapporteurs that they were denied the right to make decisions about their own health.
Speaking at the UN Women summit yesterday, Marwa Sharafuddin, head of the International Movement for Equality and Justice in Muslim Families, told reporters that in many countries around the world, family laws are still based on religion, and that is why it is said that the laws cannot be amended because God's law cannot be changed. Ms. Sharafuddin said that if anyone calls for changes to these laws, they risk being attacked and even threatened with death.
Using data and analysis, the UN Women report shows the diversity of the family institution in different parts of the world and contains legal recommendations that will enable today's families to better meet the needs of their members, especially women and girls.
Source: Voice of America
