United Nations: one third of Cambodian women suffer abuse

More than 30 percent of Cambodian women have experienced some form of domestic violence at the hands of their partner at some point in their lives, a report released on December 15 by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the United Nations Population Fund revealed. According to the analysis, 30.8 percent of women have suffered some form of physical, sexual, emotional or economic violence brought on by their partner, be it a boyfriend, fiancé or husband. Physical violence was the dominant form of abuse, with 20 percent of women having been kicked, beaten, slapped or choked by an intimate partner at least once in their life, with slapping being the most common abuse. However, research also found that 10 percent of the women interviewed admitted to having been physically abused in the last 12 months, indicating a persistent nature to abusive households. “Any time, any age group, about 10 percent of women are living with violence. Even in the oldest group of women, there is still 10 percent who are currently living with physical violence,” UNFPA international researcher Dr. Henriette Jansen said during the launch of the analysis on Friday.

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