ISSUE IN FOCUS
Gender-based violence, or violence against women and girls, is a severe violation of human rights. Violence not only negatively affects women; it also affects their families, communities and countries. It knows no national or cultural barriers; it takes place at home, in the workplace and in open spaces, and affects millions of women and girls in peacetime and in conflict. Gender-based violence includes psychological, physical and sexual violence, and harmful practices such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence and harassment, child marriage, female genital mutilation and human trafficking, according to UN Women.