The release of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) this week showing huge increases in the incidence of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault barely made the news. For those who closely follow sexual violence statistics in the US, though, the numbers were alarming.

A new government report showing huge increases in the incidences of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault over a two-year period in the United States deserves immediate attention from lawmakers and the incoming administration.

In a letter to the government of Macedonia, the undersigned, supporters and representatives of sex workers and organizations and individuals advocating for human rights, strongly condemn police actions in relation to the recent mass arrest of alleged sex workers in Skopje, Macedonia.

Governments in the Middle East should act quickly in 2009 to fulfill longstanding promises to protect migrant women’s rights, said Human Rights Watch today, ahead of December 18, 2008, International Migrants’ Day. A number of governments have promised major reforms in the response to widespread and egregious abuse, but have yet to finalize and carry out these plans.

The news of the opening of a hospital-based crisis center in Kabwe, Zambia, to address the complex needs of women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence was music to my ears; given that in 2007 I listened to heart-wrenching accounts by Zambian women, including women living with HIV. Gender-based violence devastated the lives of many of those women.

United States asylum policy falls short of protecting women fleeing abusive relationships whose own governments have already failed to protect them.

The Zambian government should adopt a comprehensive law to curb sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and accelerate establishment of hospital-based coordinated response centers to help the victims and survivors.

Since early 2007 hundreds of thousands of Somalis, including women and girls, have fled their homes in Mogadishu and other locations in fear of their lives. But Somali women also face the risk of rape and other sexual and gender-based violence at the hands of Ethiopian troops, Somali transitional government forces, and unidentified militias who take advantage of the growing lawlessness.