Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan International Women's Day on March 8 won't bring much comfort to women around our violence-prone world. While cruelty knows no religion, ethnicity, nationality, race or political creed, generally it's women who suffer the most. The allegation that South African star Oscar Pistorius killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, while claiming it was an accident, and the gang rape and horrible assault last December that killed a student in New Delhi, India, have a common thread: violence against women everywhere. In a country where Mahatma Gandhi fought for freedom through non-violence, women suffer violence continuously - aborted before birth, married off as children or sold to traffickers. If they belong to a minority, such as Muslims, Kashmiris or low-caste, they are raped as a punishment or a lesson. On average, every 20 minutes a woman is raped. The perpetrators go unpunished. The Indian outrage produced countrywide demands to change laws to protect women, punish the culprits and speed up justice. Yet it was reported that three school girls, five to 11 years old, were recently raped and killed. In South Africa, where such violence is rampant according to the media, more than 64,000 women told police last year that they had been raped. South Africa's population is 51 million. In Canada, with some 35 million, Statistics Canada reported 21,800 sexual assaults against men and women in 2011. Between 1999 and 2009, South Africa's rate of murders of women was reportedly five times higher than the global average. While Taliban force women to cover up and deny them education, women suffer violence and rape throughout Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and the world. One of the reasons relations between Canada and Iran became strained was Iran's treatment of an Iranian woman who had migrated to Canada and become a Canadian. Zahra Kazemi, a photojournalist, had photographed events in the West Bank, Jordan, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Cote d'Ivoire. She was arrested in Tehran in 2003 after taking pictures of a student protest. She died in custody on July 11, 2003, with the Iranians offered conflicting versions of her ordeal. Shahram Azam, a former physician in Iran's Ministry of Defense, stated in March 2005 that he had examined Kazemi four days after her arrest and found evidence of torture, including a brutal rape, flogging, broken bones and massive injuries. This information is in harmony with what's reported in Canada - that female prisoners in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India and several other countries, even those arrested for minor infractions, are beaten and sometimes raped. While such torture is abhorrent anywhere, it is particularly disgusting if such crimes are committed in some Muslim countries. Islam emphasizes justice, compassion, integrity, humane treatment of prisoners and stresses that the vulnerable - women, youth, the aged, the poor and travelers, and also neighbors - are particularly deserving of respect, consideration and assistance. Islam tells us that the best way to please God is to serve one's mother and that the noblest in the eyes of God is the one who treats his family in the best manner. Women in developed countries fare better but not by much. In Canada the position of Minister responsible for the Status of Women in the cabinet was created in 1971 to implement a recommendation by the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. Most Canadian provinces have similar positions. The mandate of Status of Women Canada is to promote equality for women and their full participation in economic, social and other fields. Its priorities are to increase women's economic security and prosperity, women's leadership and democratic participation and to end violence against women. That Canada has made significant gains is clear from a poll last year of 370 gender experts throughout the world about the status of women in G-20 countries. That poll put Canada at the top in quality of health, freedom from violence, workplace opportunities, access to resources and freedom from trafficking and slavery. It's only in political participation that Canada came second, next to Germany. But even in Canada the picture is far from rosy. Fifty-seven percent of Aboriginal women have been sexually abused. Generally, only six percent of sexual assaults are reported to the police. One in four of all women in North America are sexually assaulted during their lifetime. Eleven percent of victims of sexual assault suffer physical injury. Sixty percent of victims are under the age of 17 and over 80 percent of sex crime victims are women. Seventeen percent of girls under 16 have suffered incest and 83 percent of disabled women are sexually assaulted. These are real human beings whose lives are shattered by cruelty. Even Canada has a long way to go to improve how it treats women. — Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge. He has received the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario and the Queen's Diamond and Golden Jubilee Medals
