What is VAWG?
Action Breaks Silence has adopted the definition from the United Nations Declaration (1993) on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in which Article 1 defines “violence against women and girls” (VAWG) as:
“Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life”
Statistics From South Africa
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Between April and June 2023, 9 252 cases of rape were reported to the police. - SAPS Crime Stats
- In a report on the Crime Stats released in June 2023, the police’s head of crime research is quoted as saying, “We also had 55 rapes at schools.” In at least 37 of the 55 school rape cases, learners were reported to be both the victims and perpetrators of the crime. - Eyewitness News, Lindsey Dentlinger
- Women continue to bear the brunt of violent attacks, mainly at the hands of men. 969 women were killed and over 15 000 were assaulted in the first 3 months of 2023, as reported in the Daily Maverick
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Young women aged 15 – 19 are the most affected by IPV. By the time they are 19 years old, almost 1 in 4 adolescent girls (24%) who have been in a relationship have already been physically, sexually or psychologically abused by a partner. - WHO
- According to South Africa Police Service (SAPS), there were 32,245 calls related to rape reported to the police in 2021/2022. This is an average of 88 calls per day.
- In their annual report for 2021/2022, the SA Medical Research Council reported that 13% of men in South Africa admitted to perpetrating physical violence against their intimate partner in 2022.