Kathmandu, February 1

A media monitoring of 15 national dailies, including The Himalayan Times, conducted by Sancharika Samuha Nepal for the month of Paush (December 16, 2015 to January 14, 2016) shows that 12 girls and women were raped in a month.

A press statement issued here today by Sancharika Samuha said that there were 29 news items related to rape of girls and women in the month.

It said that the cases of Violence Against Women were segregated into 13 types such as rape, sexual harassment/torture, domestic violence, dowry-related violence, trafficking in persons, murder, polygamy, witch accusation, traditional and religious, and economic, health and political rights violation, among others.

These newspapers had carried 44 news reports for 10 incidents of murder of women and girls.

Likewise, the newspapers had carried 10 news reports for three sexual harassment cases, 33 news reports relating to human trafficking, 78 news items related traditional and religious violence.

The newspapers also carried 16 news reports relating to violation of political rights, 13 news reports relating to domestic violence, four news items related to dowry related violence, 33 news reports relating to violation of economic rights, 49 reports of violation of health rights, five news items related to witchcraft accusation and six news items related to polygamy.

It said, “The trend is satisfactory in terms of placement of VAW-related news. Although most of the news appeared in the inner pages, the news related to serious cases of VAW appeared on the front pages,” the report said. A total of 76 news items

Sancharika Samuha, a forum of women journalists and communicators, has been monitoring the print and electronic media for more than a decade with a view to analysing the trend of media coverage of VAW cases and recommending ways to reduce VAW through media.