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U.N. Report Faults Countries’ Efforts to Curb Domestic Violence U.N. Report Faults Countries’ Efforts to Curb Domestic Violence
(about 5 hours later)
Homicide accounts for nearly a half-million fatalities worldwide each year and is the third-leading cause of death among men aged 15-44, the United Nations said Wednesday in a new report on the prevention of domestic violence. GENEVA — Homicide and acts of personal violence kill more people than wars, and are the third-leading cause of death among men aged 15 to 44, the United Nations said on Wednesday in a new report.
The report, based on detailed data collection from 133 countries representing 88 percent of the global population, also said that nonfatal violence had taken an insidious toll on women and children. Around the world, there were about 475,000 homicide deaths in 2012 and about six million since 2000, “making homicide a more frequent cause of death than all wars combined in this period,” the report states.
One in four children have been physically abused, the report said, and one in five girls have been sexually abused. One in three women have been victims of physical or sexual violence committed by intimate partners at some point in their life, the report said. The figures are based on detailed data collection from 133 countries that together account for 88 percent of the global population. Figures are not yet available for 2013 or 2014.
The report was intended to assess efforts to address domestic violence — child maltreatment, youth violence, intimate partner and sexual violence, and elder abuse. The report, a collaboration of the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is intended to provide a baseline for assessing efforts to address domestic violence, including child maltreatment, youth violence, intimate partner and sexual violence, and elder abuse, as well as homicides.
The report said that 475,000 homicides were committed in 2012, the most recent year of data collection, making it the third-largest cause of death — excluding wars and organized conflicts — for men aged 15-44, behind HIV/AIDS and traffic fatalities. According to the report, one in four children has been physically abused, one in five girls has been sexually abused, and one in three women has been the victim of physical or sexual violence committed by an intimate partner at some point in life. The findings are based on analysis of a wide range of surveys; in the case of abuse of children, it draws on information provided by adults.
The report, a collaboration of the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, asserted that many governments pay insufficient attention to domestic violence prevention or intervention. Alexander Butchart, the heath organization’s coordinator for prevention of violence, said in an interview that he was astonished not just by the high rates of violence found in the survey, but also that the rates were similar in all regions of the world.
Only one-third of the countries surveyed offer services to reduce or prevent the problem, such as anti-bullying programs in schools, home-nurse visits to families at risk, or support for caregivers to older people. More than one billion people, about one-seventh of the world’s population, are affected by violence in their lifetime, according to Dr. Etienne Krug, a senior W.H.O. official. Dr. Krug told reporters in Geneva that the consequences of the deaths and injuries from acts of personal violence were themselves “a huge public health problem.”
Half the countries surveyed have no intervention services to protect or support victims of violence. Only one-third of the countries surveyed offer services to reduce or prevent the problem, such as anti-bullying programs in schools, home-nurse visits to families at risk, or support for caregivers to older people. Half the countries surveyed have no intervention services to protect or support victims of violence.
While 80 percent of the countries have enacted laws that are generally acknowledged to prevent violence, the report said, only slightly more than half are enforcing them. While most countries have enacted laws meant to prevent violence, the report said, only slightly more than half are enforcing them.
Despite strong evidence that links violent trauma to mental health problems, the report said, fewer than half the countries surveyed offer mental health services to address victims’ needs. Only 15 percent of countries in Africa, where the needs are especially acute, offer such services, the report stated. Mental health services for victims are provided by fewer than half the countries surveyed, and by only 15 percent in Africa, where the need can be especially acute, the report said.
It also found that only one-third of the countries surveyed have developed programs to improve parenting in families at risk of violence, and fewer than 25 percent of them have developed public information campaigns to prevent elder abuse.