Women and girls’ right to freedom from violence

Every year we use a secure, anonymous, online survey to ask human rights experts about the situation in their country. As well as the questions we ask all respondents about civil and political rights, and economic and social rights, for Pacific countries we ask an extra set of questions about issues of particular importance in the region. For questions about violence in the community, we use Bayesian statistical techniques to produce a score out of ten, displayed within an uncertainty band that shows the range of scores we calculate as most likely to represent the real situation in that country.

Statements on the right of women and girls to be free from violence can be found in CEDAW Committee General Recommendations No. 19 and No. 35, as well as in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.