India most dangerous nation for women: Survey

India was named as one of the dangerous countries in the world for women as it came on one first rank in a poll byThomson Reuters Foundation published on Tuesday.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation survey asked about 550 experts in women's issues which of the 193 United Nations member states they considered most dangerous on a range of issues.

The survey ranked India as more dangerous for women than,war-torn Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan, which came in second, third and sixth place, respectively. India is also seen as more dangerous for women than Somalia, which came fourth and has been mired in conflict since 1991, and Yemen, which came eighth and is suffering from an urgent humanitarian crisis.

A total of 548 global experts on women's issues, 43 of whom are based in India, were asked questions relating to risks faced by women in six areas: healthcare, access to economic resources and discrimination, customary practices, sexual violence, non-sexual violence, and human trafficking.

India came out worst overall, and specifically worst for women in human trafficking, sexual violence and in relation to cultural, religious and tribal traditions.

When the London-based philanthropic arm of Thomson Reuters carried out the same poll in 2011, India was ranked fourth, ahead of Pakistan.

In this poll, India ranked specifically as the most dangerous country for sexual violence against women, which included domestic rape, rape by a stranger, sexual harassment and the lack of access to justice in rape cases and forced labour.

Experts saidIndiamoving to the top of the poll showed not enough was being done to tackle the danger women faced, more than five years after the rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi made violence against women a national priority.

“There was an outcry in India after the 2012 Delhi gang rape, so you would have thought things would have improved, but that does not seem to be the case even though new laws have been introduced and more women are reporting sexual crimes,” said Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO Monique Villa.

Government data shows reported cases of crime against women rose by 83 per cent between 2007 and 2016, when there were four cases of rape reported every hour.

The full results of the poll are:

1. India

2. Afghanistan

3. Syria

4. Somalia

5. Saudi Arabia

6. Pakistan

7. Democratic Republic of Congo

8. Yemen

9. Nigeria

10. United States.

(With inputs from news agencies)