TEHRAN – Violence against women – particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence – is a major public health problem and a violation of women's human rights.

Estimates published by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.

Sexual violence and assault are major issues in the United States. Currently each year, the average number of individuals that are affected by sexual assault (including rape) sits at approximately 463,000 people.

In addition, individuals most at risk are between the ages of 12-34. Furthermore, as of 1998, more than 17.5 million women have been victims of attempted or completed rape in the United States (RAINN, 2023).

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in this regard said, “Over the past 100 years, or more, violence against women in the West has been on the rise: there has been no decrease in violence in this regard. Sexual freedom and unprincipled sexual behaviors in the West have not curbed sexual desires, which are natural and instinctive.” (July 11, 2012)

Every 68 seconds another American is sexually assaulted. 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed, 2.8% attempted).

From 2009-2013, Child Protective Services agencies substantiated or found strong evidence to indicate that, 63,000 children a year were victims of sexual abuse.

A majority of child victims are 12-17. Of victims under the age of 18: 34% of victims of sexual assault and rape are under age 12, and 66% of victims of sexual assault and rape are aged 12-17.

“Some said unrestricted relations between men and women in the West would make men sexually indifferent and prevent sexual crimes. But it’s become worse and men’s appetites have grown 100 times, leading to various types of sexual corruption and them breaking all moral and human boundaries,” Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted. (January 4, 2023)

Figures from a European Union-wide survey show that: 1 in 20 women aged 15 and over in the European Union (EU) have been raped. That is around 9 million women. 1 in 10 women aged 15 and over in the EU have experienced some form of sexual violence.

There were 31,050 rapes of female victims reported in France in 2021, with a further 3,937 rapes of male victims. France reported the highest number of rapes in this year among the provided European countries, with Germany reporting the second-highest number, at 9,797 females and 761 males. 

In 2020, many European countries saw a high number of reported cases of femicide. Femicide, which refers to the gender-related killing of women and girls, represents the most extreme cases of violence against women. In this year there were estimated to have been 400 femicides in Poland, 117 in Germany, 102 in Italy, and 99 in Hungary. (Published by Statista Research Department, June 20, 2023)

“The basis of Western culture is that women should be presented in society as a product, an object that men can benefit from. Promoting the immodest clothing is a step in this direction. Over the past 100, or 200 years, violence against women has been on the rise. There has been no decrease in this regard. Sexual freedom and unprincipled sexual behaviors in the West have not curbed sexual desires, which are natural and instinctive. In the past they used to promote the idea that men and women should be allowed to have free relationships with each other so that their sexual desires are diminished. Later on, it became clear that what happens is the opposite. The more men and women are allowed to have free relationships with each other in society, the more the resulting situation increases sexual desires... The Western view of women is a degenerate, flawed, misleading, and wrong view,” the Leader of the Islamic Revolution noted. (July 11, 2012)

The statistic published by Statista Research Department on February 28, 2023, presents the perceived prevalence of sexual harassment against women in selected European countries in 2018, by gender. According to data published by Ipsos, 81 percent of Swedish women have experienced sexual harassment, 20 percent higher than what male respondents thought it was. In Denmark, the actual percentage of women who had experienced harassment was 49 percent higher than what men thought it was.

According to a survey conducted in 2019, 13 percent of women in the United Kingdom have been exposed to visual and verbal harassment at work such as whistling, rude gestures, or comments. This year, another common type of sexual harassment at work in the United Kingdom was reported by women who were exposed to obscene proposals or messages with a sexual connotation at work. (Published by D. Clark, February 17, 2020)

“The prevalent Western view looks at women as a commodity and an instrument. In the West’s logic, attitude, and lifestyle, women’s dignity has been destroyed,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. (February 3, 2021)