The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Wednesday launched a three-year initiative to help countries in the Asia-Pacific region to measure violence against women.

The initiative titled “kNOwVAWdata” will support the countries in the region in training researchers and field workers to collect and analyse data on the extent and the nature of violence that women experience.

The initiative will help countries use the collected data to bring about policy and behaviour change to stop violence against women, said Yoriko Yasukawa, regional director, UNFPA Asia-Pacific. “We have estimates that globally about one out of three women suffer physical or sexual violence at some point in her life, usually at the hands of her spouse or intimate partner,” she said.

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

While the extent of different forms of violence against women varies across countries, violence against women occurs in every society, at all levels of development, and happens to women of all status and backgrounds.

“Australia is delighted to be partnering with UNFPA in this vital endeavour,” said Australian Ambassador to Thailand Paul Robilliard. “Reliable and robust evidence about the extent and nature of violence against women is a cornerstone of our response to this challenge both domestically and internationally,” added Robilliard.

“We need to have accurate data so we can provide the best possible services to women who have been subjected to violence. Having access to quality data reinforces the extent of the problem and the devastating impact violence has on individuals, families and communities. This helps us spur action to find causes and develop solutions.”

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.

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.