KATHMANDU, July 26

Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC) on Sunday said that cases of Violence Against Women (VAW) had increased after people started living in sheds, huts and private shelters.

A press statement issued here on Sunday by WOREC said that reported VAW cases were quite low when the women were staying in open spaces under the tents after the earthquake on April 25, but now VAW cases have increased.

The statement said that emergencies — both human-made and natural disasters — exacerbate risks to women and girls, thus there is need to undertake special measures to respond quickly and effectively with the aim of healing and building safe environment for them.

It said that WOREC  has been lobbying, advocating, and sensitising about women’s rights by setting up a mechanism that makes violence a central issue that requires immediate steps and safe environment for a better and harmonious society where women’s rights are valued.

WOREC said that it has been publishing data on VAW in Nepal every month to highlight the situation and draw attention of the government and the concerned authorities so that they can take appropriate action immediately.

It said that after the quake, it started documenting cases of VAW within safe spaces established by WOREC in 12 district headquarters and provided psychosocial first aid and other support for survivors.

“During mid-June to mid-July, WOREC documented 173 cases among which 15 were documented from various newspapers whereas 158 cases were documented by WOREC from all the development regions,” it said. A total of 114 VAW cases of VAW were documented from mid-May to mid-June.

According to data, unlike the previous months, central development region has documented the highest number of VAW cases - 97, followed by eastern development region - 42, mid-western development region -15, far-western region -13 and western development region has six cases.

It further said that among the 173 cases documented, 94 women and girls were victims of domestic violence, 17 of them were victims of polygamy and nine were rape survivors. Likewise, five were victims of rape attempt.

There were two cases of gang-rape, five cases of murder, two attempt to murder cases, nine cases of social violence (witchcraft charge), seven cases of sexual violence, six of the cases had to do with psychological violence, and there were 17 cases of other types of violence.