BOOKS, SERIAL PUBLICATIONS

ISSUES AND REPORTS

Issues & Reports No 5.

WOMEN'S VICTIMISATION
IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Anna Alvazzi del Frate - Angela Patrignani

INTRODUCTION

Global concern with the widespread nature of gender-based violence against women has resulted in a series of international recognition and declarations, increased research on the topic and wider mass media coverage of the links between gender and violence, particularly with reference to sexual abuse at home, in the workplace or during armed conflicts. There is now a general recognition that women around the world are victims of various forms of gender-based violence and that this situation inhibits women's equality with men. The traditional tendency to consider women as subordinate to men has led to a perception of justification of traditional violent practices and gender-based violence, such as domestic and family violence, as a form of control or "protection" of women. It has also helped to hide various types of violence such as sexual harassment, rape, incest, and the sexual exploitation of women for profit. Such victimisation, even in its most violent and serious forms, has in many countries still not received adequate consideration by either legislation or research. Many violent acts, and in particular those occurring within the domestic sphere, are not recognised as crimes and do not appear in official statistics. Despite the fact that domestic violence appears to be frequent practically everywhere, it is also one of the most underreported offences. Furthermore, studies in both industrialised and developing countries show that acts that are reported are often not treated as crimes and simply regarded as domestic and private affairs. As a consequence, women victimisation involves unequal application of, and access to, the law. In addition, it is known that there is a scarcity of data, research, studies, prevention policies, victim support and effective legal measures to deal with the issue.

This report is divided into two parts. The first part, entitled "Voices from the developing countries"[1] looks at various issues of violence against women in the developing world based on examples contained in the International Bibliography on Violence in the Family [2], a number of reports on the situation of women made available to the United Nations in the framework of the activities of the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, preparations for the Fourth World Conference on Women to be held in Beijing, People's Republic of China (4-15 September 1995) and selected NGO reports presented at United Nations meetings. The second part, entitled "Women victims of crime" [3], draws on the results of the International Crime (Victim) Survey, which also included 13 developing countries [4].

VOICES FROM THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY

The International Bibliography on Violence in the Family clearly indicates a paucity of studies and information on women victimisation in developing countries. Out of 473 entries related to women in the period 1985-1992, only 17 (3.6%) are devoted to developing countries. This indicates at least two things: first, an information gap and, second, a real lack of systematic gender analysis in and/or on the developing world.

Among the developing countries, Papua New Guinea has produced what is perhaps the most comprehensive study on domestic violence. The study, which was carried out by the PNG Law Reform Commission [5], underlines that domestic violence is a gender-related offence in both traditional and modern society. It reveals that 67% of women living in rural areas and 56% of the urban women have been hit by their husbands. Although alcohol abuse is often considered the major cause of violence in the PNG, the results of a survey in urban areas showed that, while 71% of the interviewed women considered alcohol abuse as the major cause of marital problems, only 26% of those who had been beaten by their husband (i.e. 56% of the total sample) related the incident to alcohol. Other factors are at stake, too. It would appear, from some of the reported case studies, that men do not resort to violence as a means of ending a relationship, but because they are afraid of losing total control over their partner. A survey carried out on the Tolai population of a small village reported that, of the 75 marriages on which it was possible to collect information, recurrent wife-beating occurred in 87% of them and 15% of the battered wives required hospital treatment on one or more occasions. It also pointed to the presence of the phenomenon in all social and economic strata.

The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women collected a series of case studies and country reports based on official statistics, country or local surveys, and reports presented at symposia and meetings [6]. The study in Argentina reported that, in 1988, 1 out of every 4 women were beaten by their partner. In Brazil, the chief of the first Women's Police Station reported that 80 out of 100 cases of rape were incest (father-daughter): "One might think that this crime happens only in the lower classes, but it is a mistake (...) the reports we received came from middle and middle-to-high classes". In two years (1986-87), 18,000 cases of battering were reported to the police station of Sao Paulo. The publication Focus on Women [7] reports that, at a police station of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 70% of all reported cases of violence against women happened at home and in Peru, 90% of young mothers aged between 12 and 16 in a hospital were victims of rape that was often committed by the father or other relatives. In Chile[8], a case study carried out in two clinics in Santiago which are attended by approximately 30 women per day for various reasons, revealed that 80% of the patients had been victims of family violence (ranging from slaps to burns from hot water or the iron). Most of the victims were aged between 20 and 38 years. In Colombia, a 1986 study of 336 cases of woman and child rape revealed that 70% of the victims knew the offender; 66% were under 16 and 23% under 21 years of age; and that 61% belonged to the low socio-economic strata and 24% to the low-middle social group. In Ecuador, a 1989 report of a study carried out in the barrios of Quito revealed that 80% of the interviewed women had been beaten by their partners. The case study for Jamaica showed that, in 1988, 22% of crimes committed against women involved domestic violence. A study published in Puerto Rico in 1986 revealed that 60% of all the interviewed married women were victims of physical and/or emotional violence by their husbands, and that the majority endured the situation for some 6 to 9 years before seeking help. In the same country, more than 50% of the women victims of homicide in 1977-1978 died at the hands of their husbands or ex-husbands. The case study presented for Trinidad and Tobago reads: "The prevalence of sexist biases in the Caribbean society is a major reason why police statistics are such an inaccurate guide to the true extent of violence against women. For example, informal investigations have uncovered that 143 cases of incest were reported to medical and welfare services in Trinidad and Tobago between 1979 and 1984. The police, however, recorded only 7 cases in the same period. The investigation also states that pregnancy resulted in 50% of the cases recorded by the Medical Social Work department of the Port of Spain general hospital, but legal action was taken in only 2 cases". The study carried out in Venezuela disclosed that an estimated 20 women per day were raped in Caracas in 1986, while in Western Samoa: "Victims of incest are daughters, either natural or stepdaughters, most of whom are under 16. Sexual assault offenders are well known to the victims and are often related. The offences invariably occur close to if not in the home of the victim". In Bangladesh, a study covering the period 1983-85 showed that 50% of 270 cases of the murder of a woman were due to family quarrels. In the same country and during the same period, a study on 145 murders in the family revealed that 65% were related to family quarrels, 34% were related to dowry demands, and property rights were involved in 1% of the deaths. Another study reported that the majority of women who were murdered were aged between 20 and 39 years, both in the rural and urban areas; and that only 28.1% of the suspects were arrested while 2% were convicted. The vast majority of the arrested were husbands. Sixty per cent of the victims were not taken to hospital for a post-mortem examination. The preliminary report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women [9] reads: "In Thailand, statistics indicate that more than 50% of married women studied in Bangkok's biggest slum are regularly beaten by their husbands. (...) In Sri Lanka, 60% of women interviewed in a sample survey responded that they had been subjected to domestic violence during their period of cohabitation". For Uganda [10], research carried out at a police station in 1987 revealed that only very few cases of domestic violence are reported, the estimated percentage being around 10-20%. Wife beating occurs in all ethnic, socio-economic and religious groups and it was found to be more prevalent in rural areas and in city slums.

VICTIMISATION RELATED TO TRADITIONAL PRACTICES

In many countries millions of women are victims of harmful and violent practices because of traditional or religious customs. Even if for many of these customs, such as genital mutilation, sati, dowry, and widowhood rites, the majority of countries have introduced laws that criminalise the practices, de facto the law alone cannot change the situation. In India, in 1987, the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act was created, and nowadays sati, the self immolation of the wife on the funeral pyre of the husband, cannot be prescribed by any religion in India. In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh the payment of a dowry has been made illegal (the maltreatment to which women are subjected by their husbands or husbands' family in order to receive a higher dowry, can result in acts of suicide or to their murder by fire: the so called "bride burning"). In India, the traditional practice of dowry was made illegal in 1961 and dowry harassment has been made a punishable offence since the mid `80s. The police officially recorded 1,786 cases of dowry deaths in the whole of India for the year 1987, but a study published in World Watch [11], estimated that, in the same period, 1,000 women may have been burned alive in the Gujurat State alone. Another report indicated that in the urban centre of Maharashtra State, 19% of all deaths among women aged between 15 and 44 were due to accidental burns, and a study on 150 dowry victims published in 1987 revealed the existence of the phenomenon across all religious and caste barriers: 68% of the victims were Hindus, 17% were Muslims and 15% were Sikhs. Ninety-one per cent of the victims were educated and 30% were graduates and post graduates. Again in 1987, out of 17 cases of dowry deaths handled by the Delhi police, all the accused were acquitted or discharged. The official Indian police records, as reported in Focus on Women, reveal that, in 1990, 4,835 women were killed for dowry-related causes and in Greater Bombay, the death of one out of every 5 women aged between 15 and 44 was reported as "accidental burns". The Special Rapporteur reported that, in India, 11,259 dowry-related deaths were officially recorded during the last three years.

Female genital mutilation comprises various forms: clitoridectomy (partial or total removal of the clitoris), excision (removal of the clitoris and labia minora), infibulation (removal of the clitoris, labia minora and majora, and stitching of the vulva with a little passage for menstrual blood and urine). Female genital mutilation is still widely practised in countries of North Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. Some industrialised countries of immigration now include in their criminal codes references to the unlawfulness of such practices (i.e. Sweden, United States, United Kingdom). Many other countries do not make specific reference to female genital mutilation, but the practice is dealt with under other legal provisions regarding violence, and/or medical care. The report of the Special Rapporteur estimated in 1994 that approximately 100 million women had been sexually mutilated, the majority of them living in 26 African countries and some in Asia, with an increase of "cases" among immigrants in Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA. With respect to genital mutilation, Focus on Women states: "Globally, at least 2 million girls a year experience genital mutilation, approximately 6,000 new cases every day, five girls every minute".

A number of reports on violence against women were presented at the Inter-African Seminar-Workshop on Strategies to Combat Violence Against Women, held in 1992 in Yaound?, Cameroon [12]. In Burkina-Faso, despite efforts to eradicate a series of violent practices and the presence of more than twenty-five women groups (NGOs, associations etc.), there are still many which persist. These include excision performed on females from one month of age until adulthood; beating and whipping by husbands or other members of the family for being infertile, for the death of an infant, for giving birth only to girls; in widowhood it is often alleged that the wife killed her husband; if she is young the brother of the husband may marry the widow, if she is old or unproductive she is branded a sorceress. In Mali, violence against women consists mainly of physical violence: men have the right to punish women, and excision and infibulation are still practised by some groups. In Congo it is estimated that in more than half of the couples the women are victims of domestic violence: it is considered normal to beat women, the idea being that discipline is necessary to "correct" women. Women are also victims of psychological violence; for example, a widow might receive threats from her husband's family to force her to give up her and her children's inheritance, or to force her to marry another man from her late husband's family. Violence in the workplace is also denounced in this report. In Benin, the most frequently denounced forms of violence are excision, scarification, the beating of women and certain practices related to widowhood.

According to the Special Rapporteur, in India and China, 30 and 38 million fewer female births were registered respectively, due to the preference for sons and differentiated nutrition for each sex. New technologies can sometimes be used against women, and the improper use of prenatal diagnostic techniques are receiving increasing criticism, and some countries are attempting to limit female fetocide. The lower female birth rate also seems to be "helped" by amniocentesis, sonography and other tests capable of determining the baby's sex.

TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN

A report from Thailand [13] emphasised the increase in the traffick of women for labour, and especially for prostitution, as a problem affecting many developing countries and countries in transition. Another increasing practice is the mail-order bride system, which at times represents the first step towards forced prostitution. The problem is being internationalised and relates to immigration laws as well. Some of the recipient countries treat it as a violation of immigration laws without providing any assistance, thus perpetrating further victimisation. On the subject of trafficking and prostitution, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women reported the lack of data; estimates for female prostitution in Thailand range from 70,000 to 2,000,000. Although, in Thailand, sexual intercourse with girls aged 15 or less constitutes statutory rape, many of the women working in brothels are much younger and, according to a study on girls and women trafficked from Burma into Thailand conducted by Asia Watch and the Women's Rights Group, only two out of 30 women were above 20 years old. Moreover, many young women, and particularly those living in the poorest countries of the world, due to their subordination and consequential depreciation of control over their sexuality, are extremely vulnerable to illness and particularly to HIV infection.

WOMEN AND ARMED CONFLICTS

A report from the Philippines [14] on women in armed conflict situations stressed that rape or mass rape against women always existed as a "normal" part of violence during wars. In particular, the report focused on what is called "military sexual slavery" and "Asian comfort slavery" during the Second World War. It is estimated that 200,000 women aged between 11 and 20 years from all over Asia were officially reduced to sexual slavery and were requested to have intercourse with 10 to 40 soldiers per day; only 30% of these women survived to the end of the war. War crimes against women have only recently been given attention at the international level, as a result mainly of the war in ex-Yugoslavia [15]. According to a European Union fact-finding team, reported in Focus on Women, an estimated 20,000 women were raped in Bosnia during the first months of the war. From the above-mentioned report of the Special Rapporteur, during the 1971 armed conflict in Bangladesh 200,000 women were victims of rape. Mass rape has also been denounced in other armed conflicts, such as in Vietnam, Cambodia, Somalia, Liberia, Peru, Uganda and Rwanda, to mention only a few.

THE RESPONSES

Although many women's groups are working in the field of violence prevention and assistance to women in developing countries, very little is known about their activities. Refuge shelters for women victims of domestic violence, which actually provide the best response to the victims' immediate needs, have been created. Generally they were first set up on a voluntary basis but are now increasingly being funded by the state and staffed by professional workers, such as in Bangkok (Thailand) in 1985, in Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago) in 1985, Jamaica in 1985, Malaysia since 1982, and Egypt, Zimbabwe and India. Nevertheless, there is a claim from both developed and developing countries, that the funds made available for the running of these shelters and services are absolutely insufficient. In Malaysia, a report related to one shelter claimed that, in three years (1984-1986), the shelter assisted over 200 women, some of them with children. The majority of them had been victims of battering, were Malay, Indian and Chinese and of different socio-economic backgrounds. Sixteen per cent of them had been battered for 10 years or more, 24% returned to their marital home, while 12% set up a new, independent home. The centre received 369 telephone calls in 1984, 592 calls in 1985 and 843 in 1986 from women who had been battered, raped or were victims of other forms of violence. Women working in the shelter stated that, since only a small proportion of families in Malaysia have access to a telephone, it is reasonable to believe that thousands of women have no way of contacting a shelter[16]. In Mexico, the first rape crisis centre was set up in 1987. It provided hot lines and support groups for the victims and organised training courses for practitioners. In 1984, the first women's police station was created in Brazil, with the task of dealing exclusively with violent crimes against women. According to the proceedings of a symposium on violence against women organised by the Ford Foundation [17], special all-female police stations dealing exclusively with violence against women have now been set up in Argentina, Uruguay and Peru. However, de facto, and despite existing laws, the criminal justice system is not active enough in prosecution and reports confirm a high degree of impunity and discrimination in favour of perpetrators. For example, the "honour defence" continues to be recognised, as does "provocation" from the victim, even in very serious cases such as wife murder. Lack of effective prosecution for battery and rape in the home indicates that all those laws and structures that have been created for the protection of women are not implemented[18]. Many women's groups are fighting for the application of international and national norms. The Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) in Harare, Zimbabwe, is a network of women's organisations from 15 African countries which fight for the rights of women to obtain justice on such issues as physical and sexual abuse, inheritance rights, etc. Many African countries have signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and many women, and particularly women's groups, are now attempting to apply it in courts. The Indeso-Mujer in Argentina is a women's organisation that offers legal assistance to other women's organisations and has created programmes to prevent violence against women and provide legal assistance to victims of abuse. The Women's Legal Bureau in Quezon City in the Philippines is a feminist legal resource organisation which provides assistance to individuals and women's organisations in cases involving gender-related issues. It has created a type of task force against the trafficking of women and for the creation of shelters in Metro Manila.

WOMEN VICTIMS OF CRIME [19]

INTERNATIONAL CRIME (VICTIM) SURVEY

The International Crime (Victim) Survey is a comparative project aimed at promoting surveys of victims around the world. Its peculiarity consists in the use of a standard questionnaire which has already been administered to samples of the population in almost fifty countries, including thirteen developing countries.

The questionnaire is conceived to cover thirteen types of victimisation which could have affected the respondent personally or his/her household. The selected crimes are obviously among those with a well identified victim and belong to the sphere of conventional offences. Only women were asked about sexual incidents.

Due to their high comparability, survey results can assist in the analysis of various issues without most of the obstacles which normally affect the international comparison of criminal justice data (differences in legal definitions, data collection methodology, reporting rates, police efficiency in recording, etc.). Local data sets are integrated in the global database which now contains data from the 1989 and 1992 rounds of the international survey and ad hoc surveys organised in 1993 and 1994. A third round of the survey is envisaged for 1996 [20].

The organisation and implementation of the survey in developing countries encountered a number of problems, due to the pioneering character of the endeavour. In each participating country an expert was appointed to act as the national co-ordinator. An ad hoc research team, usually drawn from the local university or research institutes, was created to develop the sample and to train the interviewers. In most countries city surveys were organised with a sample of 1,000 respondents[21]. The standard questionnaire was translated into the local languages and the interviews were carried out with the face-to-face technique.

Teams generally included male and female interviewers in order to reduce possible problems of sensitivity to issues raised by the questionnaire. Nevertheless, certain difficulties with data collection were reported due to a particular sensibility in certain cultural settings. This was evidently the case with issues related to experiences with sexual incidents and assault. Despite a number of limitations, the IC(V)S is a first attempt towards the systematic collection and comparative analysis of data on women as victims of crime.

SEXUAL INCIDENTS

Experiences with sexual incidents were analysed by addressing specific questions to women only[22]. Some of the problems which are normally encountered in administering this type of question (such as definition of sexual incidents and readiness to report them to the interviewer) were found in most of the developing countries covered by the survey.

It should be stressed that the measure of sexual offences provided by the survey must be taken with care, especially as regards comparison. In fact, the wording of the question itself might elicit different answers in different languages and contexts which, in turn, might have different levels of sensitivity to the issue.

Distortions in reporting to the survey, either in the direction of over-reporting or under-reporting, might exist due to the same reason. In some of the most industrialised countries covered by the IC(V)S it was noted that high sensitivity to the issue corresponded to high rates of victimisation reported to the survey. It appears that this is not the case for developing countries, where survey results have shown that lower rates of sexual harassment were found in countries where women enjoy a better status.

Table 1 shows several indicators related to the advancement of women. A negative correlation was found between victimisation for sexual incidents and adult literacy rate, years of schooling, average age at the first marriage and contraception prevalence rates. Inversely, a positive correlation was found with crude birth rate.

Table 1: Selected development indicators and sexual incident rate

	Sexual incidents (5 years)	Illiterate females 15+ (92) (% of women population)	Adult literacy rate (92) (% of women 15+)	Average age at first marriage (80-90) (years)	Years of schooling 25+ (92)	Women in labour force (% of total labour force)	Crude birth rate (92)	Contracep- tion prevalence rate (92) (%)
Egypt	45.5	38.6	35.0	21.9	1.7	29.0	32.0	46.0
PNG	32.4	31.4	48.0	20.6	0.7	39.0	34.0	-
Uganda	26.5	34.0	37.0	17.7	0.6	41.0	51.0	5.0
Indonesia	25.5	15.0	77.0	21.1	3.1	40.0	27.0	50.0
Tanzania	22.0	-	-	19.1	1.3	48.0	48.0	10.0
Tunisia	20.7	24.5	59.0	24.3	1.2	21.0	28.0	50.0
Argentina	18.6	-	96.0	22.9	9.5	28.0	21.0	-
Costa Rica	15.0	6.6	93.0	22.2	5.6	30.0	27.0	75.0
Brasil	11.8	12.2	81.0	22.9	3.9	36.0	24.0	66.0
China	7.6	23.6	68.0	22.0	3.8	43.0	21.0	83.0
S. Africa	6.0	-	-	26.1	3.7	39.0	32.0	50.0
Philppines	3.5	5.8	90.0	22.4	7.2	37.0	31.0	40.0
India	3.0	40.5	35.0	18.7	1.2	29.0	30.0	43.0
Correlation Coefficient			-0,43677	-0,23402	-0,39936		0,315645	-0,31323

Data source: UNDP, Human Development Report, 1994 and IC(V)S - UNICRI elaboration.

Data on women victims of sexual incidents grouped by regions [23] are shown in Figure 1, in which both five-year and one-year victimisation rates for sexual incidents are presented. Survey results reveal that this type of victimisation is very frequent in many developing countries. The highest rates were found in North Africa, where 33% of the interviewed women experienced sexual incidents in the last five years, followed by Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia/Pacific with rates close to 15%. In developing countries, the least victimised were women in Asia. As regards industrialised countries, women in the New World were more frequently victims than those in Western Europe, where the lowest victimisation rates were observed. Eastern-Central European countries rank between the New World and Western Europe. On average, women in developing countries run a much higher risk of sexual incidents than in the rest of the world.

FIGURE 1: Prevalence victimisation rates for sexual incidents, five years and one year, by regions

As is the case with most types of crime covered by the survey, one-year data represent more than one-fifth of the five-year corresponding rates and tend to approximate one-fourth of the five-year data in developing countries, about one-third in Eastern-Central European countries and even higher proportions in industrialised countries. This might mean either that the respondents have a better recollection of events which happened more recently or that there is a trend towards an increase in this type of crime. However, regional comparison on the one-year rates shows smaller differences between the regions than the five-year rates.

Both types of reporting of sexual incidents (in the victim surveys and to the police) seem to reflect certain particularities of a cultural nature related to the women's position, awareness, freedom, the concept of privacy, and the gender-biased police culture. From a comparison of the two reporting practices, two discernible patterns are found. On the one hand, there are sites in which both victimisation and reporting are high (Dar Es Salaam and Papua New Guinea) and, on the other, those in which the relationship between the two reporting rates is inverse; for example, the one-year rate in Cairo is 10% while only 2.5% of cases were reported to the police, or, in Manila the victimisation rate is low (1.2%) while 16.7% of the cases were reported to the police.

As far as the seriousness of the incidents is concerned, three indicators are provided by the survey:

	a description of the incident (rape, attempted rape, indecent assault, offensive behaviour);
	whether the victim considers it a crime or not; and
	an assessment of the incident's seriousness (very serious, fairly serious, not very serious).

As regards the description of the incident, two levels of seriousness were considered in this analysis: incidents described as rapes, attempted rapes and indecent assaults belong to the more serious category, while others are considered sexual harassment and of a less serious nature. The regional distribution (Figure 2) reveals that in North Africa, where the highest frequency of incidents was observed, the lowest percentages of incidents of a serious nature were found. Nevertheless, in the same region more than 60% of the victims described the incident as "very serious" and more than three-quarters declared they considered it a crime (Figure 3). On the other hand, about 40% of the victims in Asia described the incident as an indecent assault, but a much lower proportion considered that to be very serious. This discrepancy between the three indicators of seriousness provided by the survey suggests that sensitivity to this type of incident might vary depending on local culture, the willingness of the respondents to talk about this experience and, perhaps, the meaning attached to the questions submitted.

FIGURE 2: Victims' description of sexual incidents

Among the incidents reported to the survey, some were described as rapes. This occurred more frequently in Sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea. In the latter, the actual number of rapes exceeded attempted rapes, while in Sub-Saharan Africa almost half of the victims experienced an attempted rape. This type of victimisation was also very frequent in Latin America. Many women also declared having experienced indecent aggressions in Asia and Latin America. In general, the region with the highest level of sexual offences of a serious nature was Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by Latin America.

Consequently, similar proportions of victims in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America affirmed that the incidents they experienced were very serious, and most of them considered them a crime. In Asia, a lower percentage of women considered the incident very serious, but approximately half of them claimed it was a crime, while some 20% could or would not qualify the incident, indicating a wide margin of uncertainty about the assessment of the seriousness of such events.

Studies [24], have shown that women generally tend to report crimes more frequently, but that a victim-offender relationship tends to reduce reporting to the police. Indeed, only a small proportion of the sexual incidents which were described as crimes were reported to the police (Figure 3), indicating women's negative appreciation of and/or experience with the police.

FIGURE 3: Sexual incidents regarded as crimes and reporting rates

Survey results (Figure 4) confirm that in many cases the victim of sexual incidents knew the offender, at least by sight. In smaller but significant percentages the offender was the partner/ex-partner, a close friend or a relative. In addition, 23% of the victims refused to provide details about the offender(s), thus suggesting they actually knew him or them.

FIGURE 4: Place where sexual incidents occurred and victims' relationship with the offender

The respondents' indication of the place where the victimisation occurred shows that, although most of the sexual incidents occurred elsewhere in the city or the country or abroad, some 40% took place either near to, or in the victims' own home. As is the case with assault/threats, women are often victims of domestic violence. These crimes are hardly ever disclosed.

WOMEN VICTIMS OF OTHER TYPES OF CRIMES

Survey results for personal victimisation indicate that in all regions of the world women run higher risks than men for theft of personal property and lower risks for violent crimes (robbery and assault/threat). This observation obviously excludes sexual incidents which were measured for women only.

It should be noted that the risk of robbery is low in Asia and that in this region there is almost no gender difference. Generally, gender differences are not marked for both types of violence, with the exception of assault/threat in North Africa, where the exposure of males to this type of victimisation was almost twice as high.

On the other hand, women were more often victims of theft of personal property. Possible explanations include that they carry bags more often and are generally perceived as less reactive and therefore easier targets for theft. Higher risks for women were observed in Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa while in North Africa, although percentage-wise women ran approximately the same risk as in the other regions, males were more exposed to victimisation by theft of personal property.
However, fear of violent crime is mostly expressed by women, despite the fact that they appear to be at a lower risk for assault. This result is consistent with similar findings in the industrialised countries. Furthermore, women victims of crime, in particular of sexual incidents, feel less safe, are more negative about the police and have a more punitive attitudes towards offenders.

FIGURE 5: Gender-related risks of theft of personal property, robbery and assault/ threat by regions

Violence against women in society and within the family is related to the problem of women's oppression both in the developed and developing countries. Although the available information is partial it does evidence that women in the developing countries are at a greater risk of various forms of victimisation related both to traditional gender inequality as well as to changes in gender roles brought about by modernity. Measures to solve these problems cannot solely rely on criminal law, the application of which can sometimes result in a secondary victimisation. It is also ill-equipped for dealing with the special economic, sentimental and other relationships that often exist between the offender and the victim. State intervention in this sphere should involve the enforcement of a series of provisions that are not limited to penal sanctions but also include compensatory and civil solutions, victim support measures, education and information programmes and mass media awareness campaigns, keeping in mind that different types of violence require different remedies. Strategies and policies must be informed. Therein lies the great potential of gender analysis, research and information sharing.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Prepared by Angela Patrignani, Associate Research Officer, UNICRI.

[2] A. Patrignani and R. Vill?, "Violence in the family, an international bibliography with literature review", Issues & Reports, UNICRI series No. 4/1995.

[3] Prepared by Anna Alvazzi del Frate, Research Officer, UNICRI.

[4] U. Zvekic and A. Alvazzi del Frate (eds.), Criminal victimisation in the developing world, UNICRI Publ. No. 55, 1995.

[5] S. Toft (ed.), Domestic violence in Papua New Guinea, Law Reform Commission, Port Moresby, 1985.

[6] United Nations, Violence against women in the family, United Nations Publ., Sales No. E.89.IV.5, New York, 1989. Part of the material used was presented at the Expert Group Meeting on Violence in the Family, with Special Emphasis on its Effects on Women, held at Vienna, 8-12 December 1986; other cases studies were expressly requested for the preparation of the publication.

[7] "Violence against women" in Focus on Women, January 1995. Series of publications on specific topics prepared for the Fourth World Conference on Women by the United Nations Department of Public Information, New York.

[8] See footnote 6.

[9] Preliminary report, submitted by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, in accordance with the Commission on Human Rights, resolution 1994/45: Commission on Human Rights, Fiftieth session. E/CN.4/1995/42. A substantial step was to recognise women's human rights and place it on the agenda of the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993. One of the most important outcomes of this Conference was the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on violence against women with the task of presenting, on an annual basis, a report to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. In December 1993, the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threat of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life", calling Governments and international bodies to take action to eliminate and prevent such acts.

[10] See footnote 6.

[11] L. Heise, "Crimes of gender" in World Watch, 2:2, 1989.

[12] The report was published by Match International Centre, a feminist NGO based in Ottawa, Canada, which supports Southern and Canadian women in the field of equality and justice.

[13] Expert Group Meeting on Measures to Eradicate Violence Against Women, organised by the Division for the Advancement of Women, at Rutgers University, New Brunswick (NJ), USA (4-8 October 1993).

[14] Ibid.

[15] In February 1993, the United Nations Security Council decided to set up an International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Former Yugoslavia since 1991, to try war criminals including organised armed rapists.

[16] See footnote 6.

[17] Ford Foundation, Violence against women: addressing a global problem, Ford Foundation Women's Programme Fund, New York, 1992.

[18] D.Q. Thomas, "Violence against women" in Response to the victimisation of women and children, 14:3, 1992, pp. 5-6; Americas Watch, Criminal justice: violence against women in Brazil, Human Rights Watch, New York, 1991.

[19] Most of this part of the report draws on the section on "Women" in Chapter 2 of U. Zvekic and A. Alvazzi del Frate (eds.), Criminal victimisation ..., op. cit.

[20] Results, methodology and various issues related to the International Crime (Victim) Survey are presented in J.J.M. van Dijk, P. Mayhew and M. Killias, Experiences of crime across the world, Deventer, Kluwer, 1990; J.J.M. van Dijk and P. Mayhew, Criminal victimisation in the industrialised world, Ministry of Justice of The Netherlands, The Hague, 1992; A. Alvazzi del Frate, U. Zvekic and J.J.M. van Dijk (eds.), Understanding crime: experiences of crime and crime control, UNICRI Publ. No. 49, 1993; U. Zvekic and A. Alvazzi del Frate (eds.), Criminal victimisation ..., op. cit.

[21] The exceptions were Indonesia, where the survey covered Jakarta (with a sample of 1,000 respondents) and the main cities of major islands; Papua New Guinea, where the three largest cities (Port Moresby, Goroka and Lae) were involved; Costa Rica, in which the survey covered the central region of the country comprising the main urban area (Metropolitan) and a mixed urban/rural area. In The Philippines and China larger samples were used (1,500 respondents in Metro Manila and 2,000 in Beijing).

[22] The first question reads as follows: "People sometimes grab, touch or assault others for sexual reasons in a really offensive way. This can happen either inside one's house or elsewhere, for instance in a pub, the street, at school, on public transport, in cinemas, on the beach or at one's workplace. Over the past five years has anyone done this to you?" Further specific issues addressed included rape, attempted rape, relationship with the offender.

[23] For the purpose of analysis, countries included in the International Crime (Victim) Survey have been grouped in geographical regions as follows: Sub-Saharan Africa (Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa), North Africa (Egypt and Tunisia), Latin America (Argentina, Brazil and Costa Rica), Asia (China, India, Indonesia and The Philippines, plus Japan, only for the analysis of victimisation rates), Asia/Pacific (Asian countries plus Papua New Guinea), Western Europe (Belgium, England and Wales, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Spain and Sweden), New World (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA), Eastern-Central Europe (Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Poland, Russia, Slovak Republic and Slovenia).

[24] For example, W. Skogan, "Reporting crimes to the police: the status of world research" in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 21:2,1984, pp.113-137.