The UN has launched a new initiative to demonstrate the high economic cost of violence against women in the Arab Region. The UN and other partners, including UN Women and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), have developed an economic model to estimate the broad financial consequences of violence against women. These consequences include costs for medical and psychological care, housing, legal and other essential victim services, lost economic productivity and reduced business income, and educational gaps for women and their children. The UN and its partners hope the costing initiative will provide a new and “powerful” tool for advocates and policy-makers to promote change in the Arab world that benefits women victims of violence and their communities.
UN ESCWA, UN Women and the Lebanese American University have also published a companion report that explores these issues in detail, called “Status of Arab Women Report 2017, Violence Against Women: What Is at Stake?”.
Compiled from: UN Women and ESCWA launch project to estimate the cost of violence against women in the Arab Region, UN Women Publications (October 10, 2017).