TEHRAN – Violence against women and domestic violence is pervasive throughout the EU. According to Eurostat, women and girls make up over 90% of rape victims and over 80% of sexual assault victims.

Rape is a distressingly prevalent manifestation of violence against women. 1 in 3 women have been victims of gender-based violence in the European Union. 1 in 10 women have been victims of sexual violence, and 1 in 20 has been raped. This is just some of the data showing the dramatic situation of violence against women in Europe.

In 2015, nine out of ten rape victims and eight out of ten sexual-assault victims in the union were women; 99 percent of those imprisoned for such crimes were men.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in one of his speeches said, “In the Western outlook, women are a means for satisfying lust. This is undeniable. If someone makes this claim, some people may create uproar. They may say, "No, this is not the case". However, when one takes a look at their lives, one sees that this is the dominant outlook. In social environments, the more women appear in an immodest way, the more appropriate it will be. They do not have the same opinion about men. In official meetings, men should dress up. They should wear ties and suits. They should dress formally on such occasions. But in these formal meetings, women should appear in a different way. This has no other philosophy or reason except that women should entertain men's lustful eyes. Today, the Western world is like this. It is practically the greatest oppression which the Western world shows towards women.” (April 19, 2014)

The four Nordic countries Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark had the highest rate of reported sexual violence in Europe in 2020. More than 200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants were reported in Sweden. (Published by Statista Research Department, Aug 31, 2023)

Sweden's seemingly oversized rape rate is perhaps the best-known example of this scenario. During the years 2013-2017, Sweden averaged 64 reported rapes per 100,000 inhabitants—a rate that tied for the highest in Europe.

The number of rapes involving more than one perpetrator—sometimes referred to as ‘gang rapes’—also rose dramatically across North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, in 2022, climbing from 172 in 2021 to 246 in 2022, a year-over-year increase of 43%, the news outlet RTL Deutschland reports.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, women living in cities were most at risk of becoming victims of serious sexual assault. Nearly one in three (30%) rapes were reported in the state’s five largest cities, with Cologne police recording 309 (nearly one per day); the Düsseldorf police 175; Dortmund 135; Recklinghausen 133; and Wuppertal 117.

Instances of sexual assault have risen dramatically in France as well. According to figures from the country’s interior ministry, the number of victims reporting rape or attempted rape increased by a staggering 32% between 2020 and 2021, while sexual harassment cases increased by 33% in the same period. Between 2021 and 2022, reports of sexual violence, including rape, attempted rape, and other sexual assaults, jumped by another 11%, figures from the French interior ministry revealed.

In 2021, French authorities recorded more than 67,500 incidents of sexual violence against women. Almost half of these incidents were sexual assaults, more than 45 percent were rapes, and five percent were sexual harassment. In the case of sexual assaults, almost 47 percent of the victims were under 15 years of age at the time of the incident. (Published by Statista Research Department, Dec 16, 2022)
Between 2016 and 2021, the police recorded every year more complaints of rape against women in France. In 2021, more than 30,700 cases were recorded, of which nearly half were against minor women.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 1.1 million adults aged 16 years and over experienced sexual assault in the year ending March 2022 (798,000 women and 275,000 men). This equates to a prevalence rate of approximately 2.3% of adults (3.3% women and 1.2% men).

A total of 193,566 sexual offenses were recorded by the police in England and Wales in the year ending March 2022 (the highest level recorded). This was an increase of 30,322 compared with the year ending March 2020 and an increase of 45,731 from the previous year.

Of all sexual offenses recorded by the police in the year ending June 2022, 36% (70,600) were rape offenses. This was a 20% increase from 59,046 in the year ending March 2020. Other sexual offences increased to 126,289 offences; a 21% rise compared with the year ending March 2020.

“If women are regarded as respectable in the family environment, an important part of problems in our society will be solved. Oppressive behavior exists in the West but it should not be even imagined in an Islamic country /w Imagine that in a family and in a home, the man hurls all kinds of insults at his own wife, including behavioral and verbal insults and physical abuse. This issue should not occur. Of course, this occurs many times in Western countries. And this is not unexpected. Westerners, particularly European races, are wild. They have a neat appearance, they wear ties and they use perfume and other such things, but they still have the same wild nature and they still behave in the same wild way that they have always behaved throughout history. They easily kill people and they coldheartedly commit crimes. Therefore, it is not surprising that women are beaten in the home by the Europeans and by the Americans. But such a thing should not be even imagined in an Islamic environment. Therefore, these are two fundamental issues. In my opinion, there is room for detailed planning in this regard,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. (May 11, 2013)