Intimate partner violence: A global challenge to sustainable development

Abstract

Gender-based violence (GBV) remains one of the most critical unmet challenges relating to sexual and reproductive health and rights in the world. Although men experience GBV, it is disproportionally more prevalent among women, especially with respect to intimate partner violence (IPV). The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defined IPV as “physical violence, sexual violence, stalking or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse”¹. Many publications document the high prevalence of IPV against women^2–5.  Several international agreements and commitments that address the prevention and mitigation of IPV have been put in place over the past decades. These include the Istanbul convention, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the declaration on the elimination of violence against women^4,6–9. Despite these global commitments, and the remarkable improvements in women’s empowerment indicators such as school enrolment, representation in parliaments, and labour force participation, IPV remains a challenge in many countries. One in three women in the world has ever experienced physical/or sexual violence by an intimate partner⁹. The global average of 1 in 3 conceals a wide variation across countries in women’s experience of IPV which ranges from as low as 6% in Singapore, Georgia, and Comoros to a high of 68% in Kiribati³.