Women’s Health and Life Experiences 2015

Violence Against Women

Violence against women (VAW), in its many forms and manifestations, and across all settings, is a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Around the world, many women experience violence regardless of age, class, race and ethnicity. Most of this violence is driven by the fact that they are women, and related to gender roles in society. Violence against women is predominately perpetrated by men, and most often by intimate partners. According to most recent global estimates, 35% of women aged 15 years or older globally have experienced physical and/or sexual violence during their lifetime (Devries et al., 2013; WHO, 2013). Intimate partner violence is the leading cause of homicide in women globally (Stockl et al., 2013) and has many other major short- and long-term health consequences (WHO, 2013). The economic and social costs associated with VAW are significant, and global evidence shows that violence consistently undermines development efforts at various levels, affecting physical, human and social capital (WHO, 2005). In Cambodia, the state of research on violence against women points toward widespread experiences of violence across the country (CDHS, 2012; Fulu et al., 21013). Women of all cultures and classes are subjected to many forms of physical,
psychological, sexual and economic violence. This includes, but is not limited to intimate partner violence (IPV), rape and sexual assault, sexual harassment, acid violence and trafficking (MoWA, 2008). The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has made a strong commitment to addressing violence against women by introducing a number of legislative and policy reforms including domestic violence legislation and a national action plan. Cambodia has demonstrated its strong commitment to promoting gender equality and ending VAW by ratifying several core international human rights conventions. In addition, there is widespread recognition among Cambodian government leaders that having quality data on the prevalence and health and other consequences of different forms of VAW is essential to increase awareness, inform evidencebased programming and policies, including the NAPVAW, and to monitor progress in the implementations of such interventions. Between 2014-2015, to fill the identified knowledge gaps, the Royal Government of Cambodia with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Women conducted a national prevalence study using the WHO multicountry study methodology. This methodology was selected because it has been widely used and is known to produce reliable data, that can be used for cross-country comparisons, and it adheres to internationally recognized ethical and safety standards.

Specific Objectives:
Among specific objectives, the following deserve special mention:

ESTIMATE THE PREVALENCE AND FREQUENCY of different forms of VAW: physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence against women by intimate partners, as well as sexual and physical violence by perpetrators other than partners (in this document also referred to as ‘nonpartners’) since the age of 15, and sexual violence before the age of 15;

DETERMINE THE ASSOCIATION of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence with a range of health and other outcomes;

IDENTIFY FACTORS that may be associated with either reducing (protective factors) or increasing (risk factors) women’s risk of hysical and/or sexual intimate partner violence; DOCUMENT THE STRATEGIES and services that women use to cope with violence by an intimate partner.

INCREASE NATIONAL CAPACITY and collaboration among researchers and women’s organisations working on domestic violence;

INCREASE AWARENESS about and sensitivity to partner violence among researchers, policymakers and health care providers;

CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT of a network of people committed to addressing