KATHMANDU, Feb 20: A report prepared by the Informal Sector Service Center (Insec), a non-governmental human rights organization, has said that rape of women has increased by 79 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year.
The Human Rights Yearbook 2019 unveiled by the organization states that a total of 265 women were raped across the country in 2017 while the number climbed to 475 in 2018. This indicates a sharp rise of 55 percent in such cases in 2018 compared to the previous year.
80% of victims of violence are women: INSEC
Insec has also reported that the cases of rape attempts on women also increased by 27 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year. There were 122 cases of rape attempts on women in 2017 which increased to 155 in 2018. The cases of sexual abuse on women increased from 44 in 2017 to 79 in 2018, according to the report.
Also, the report claimed that the number of cases where women were killed by family members increased by 48 percent in 2018. Eighty-one women were killed by their own family members in 2017 whereas 120 women were killed by their kin in 2018.
Among the types of human rights violations, a sharp surge has been observed in cases of violation of child rights, right to live, and racial discrimination, according to the Yearbook.
Cases of violation of child rights reached an all time high in 2018. This was an increase by 59 percent from the preceding year. There were 720 cases of violation of child rights in 2016; 783 cases in 2017; and 1248 cases in 2018. Rape cases on girls, one of the sub-heads of violation of child rights, increased by 55 percent in 2018.
Similarly, the report also states that the number of cases of murder reached the highest in the last five years in 2018, increasing by 29 percent. There were 255 cases of murder in 2017 which increased to 328 cases in 2018. Also, cases of abduction and racial discrimination hit a four-year high in 2018. The cases of abduction increased from 18 in 2017 to 28 in 2018, marking an increase of 56 percent. The cases of racial discrimination increased from 45 in 2017 to 62 in 2018, marking an increase of 38 percent.
