January 21, 2025
THIMPHU – In the past five-years (2020-24), RENEW (Respect, Educate, Nurture, and Empower Women) recorded 2,536 cases.
The cases included sexual, emotional, physical, economic abuses, non-domestic and gender-based violence.
Forty cases involved trafficking in person and seven child custody cases.
During that period, the highest recorded case was emotional abuse with around 1,105 cases, followed by physical abuse with 440 cases, economic abuse with 295 cases, and sexual abuse with 78 cases.
The senior counsellor at RENEW, Sonam Zangmo, said that emotional abuse cases included non-physical behaviors such as bullying, harassment, exploitation and verbal abuse. Economic abuse includes denying partners access to money.
RENEW recorded 788 abuse and violence cases in 2023, marking the highest in the last five years.
While cases of physical abuse decreased from 132 in 2023 to 102 in 2024, a significant increase was observed in sexual abuse, rising from three cases in 2020 to 36 cases in 2024.
Similarly, emotional violence cases rose from 147 in 2020 to 392 in 2024, while economic violence cases decreased from 146 in 2021 to 53 in 2024.
In 2023, 216 cases of non-domestic and gender-based violence were recorded.
According to the National Health Survey conducted in 2023, 47.5 percent of women aged 55-59 and 46.8 percent of those aged 60-64 believed violence could be justified.
Through the survey, it was observed that women in rural areas had higher acceptance of violence with 45.9 percent compared to their urban counterparts with 40.5 percent.
Education also played a significant role. Women with no formal education had a 47.7 percent acceptance rate to some forms of violence, while those with Bachelor’s degree or higher showed lower acceptance rate of 32.8 percent.
The lowest acceptance rate was observed among women with certificates or diplomas, at 21.4 percent.
The study found that women from lower-income groups were more likely to accept violence. Women and girls from the lowest income group (46.6 percent) were more likely to accept such violence compared to those in the highest income group (39.3 percent).
In 2024, RENEW recorded 13 walk-in cases, including three from the LGBTQIA+ community members and 10 from individuals with disabilities (PWDs). This marks the first time in five years that RENEW has recorded cases from diverse individuals.