Sexual violence

According to the World Health Organization, sexual violence is ‘any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting’ (WHO, 2017). This phenomenon takes on different forms, including harassment, unwanted sexual advances, sexual abuse, commercial sexual exploitation, rape, and sexual slavery.

Sexual violence can take place in public places, such as schools and universities, work places, parks, streets, or tourist facilities. It also occurs in private places, for example, homes. Although any person can suffer from this type of violence, the main victims are people who are vulnerable, women, children, and adolescents. In the majority of cases, the perpetrators are men, and are often a person the victim knows or had an intimate relationship with, or even a complete stranger.

Sexual violence is a type of gender-based violence that occurs in all social groups around the world. According to UN Women, more than one in every three women in the world has suffered from physical or sexual violence at the hands of a partner, or sexual violence from someone other than their partner, at some point in their life (not including sexual harassment). However, in some countries, national studies indicate that up to 70% of women have suffered from some form of these types of violence. Further, the data also reveals that women who have suffered from physical or sexual violence from partners have higher rates of depression and a higher probability of undergoing an abortion or getting HIV, compared to women who have not experienced this.

On the other hand, according to UNICEF, ‘Worldwide, around 15 million adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 have experienced forced sex in their lifetime’ (UNICEF, 2017). The consequences of sexual violence towards children and adolescents includes physical, psychological, and social effects, and they affect their personal development, their families, and communities. Consequences include unplanned pregnancies, diseases, discrimination, dropping out of school, stigma, and psychological difficulties.