“KNOW VAWdata” a joint initiative of United Nations Population Fund Asia-Pacific Regional Office and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is being launched to help to collect and analyse data on the extent and nature of violence that women experience, using robust and reliable methodologies.

It will be an effective tool for researchers and field workers in collecting data to bring about policy and behaviourial change to stop VAW.

In Asia-Pacific, surveys have indicated that between 15 per cent and 68 per cent of women have experienced physical or sexual violence, at the hands of an intimate partner, across different countries, read the statement.

“We have estimates that globally about one out of three women suffers physical or sexual violence at some point in her life, usually at the hands of her spouse or intimate partner,” said Yoriko Yasukawa, UNFPA Asia-Pacific regional director in the statement.

“We’ve made progress in recent years in documenting this violence in a number of countries. Now, under this initiative, we’ll expand this work, ultimately benefiting millions of women, helping us move closer to fulfilling one of the most important targets under the Sustainable Development Agenda — that of bringing about an end to the scourge of violence against women,” Yasukawa added.

Violence against women is very much a hidden problem. Many women remain silent for a number of reasons. Their husbands (or other intimate partners) might beat them up again. Or they are afraid of not being taken seriously, or even of being blamed for having “provoked” the violence in the first place. These fears cause crippling isolation and guilt. The silence, stigma and prejudice involved often conceal the full extent of the crisis. Interviewers need special training and skills to help women summon the strength to tell their painful stories, to keep them safe and to provide necessary support and referral.

While factors contributing to violence vary in different country and social contexts, we know that experiencing and/or witnessing violence as a child is an important predictor of whether men will use violence in their adult relationships or women will become victims of intimate partner violence. Across all countries, gender inequality and unequal power relationships between women and men both drive, and are perpetuated by, violence against women.