More than 60 million women are "missing" from the world's population because of gender violence, according to a new report from the United Nations Children's Fund. Violence against women and girls is a major obstacle to social and economic development, the 1997 Progress of Nations report states.
It blames the shortfall in the female population on a variety of practices, including infanticide, gender-based abortion and simple neglect.
The report also outlines what it calls "a shocking litany" of violence against women and girls throughout the world:
between one in five and one in seven women will be victims of rape in their lifetime.
rape as a weapon of war has been documented in seven countries in recent years.
between 25 and 50 per cent of all women have suffered physical abuse at the hands of an intimate partner.
about two million girls each year, or 6,000 a day, are genitally mutilated.
more than one million children, mostly girls, are forced into prostitution each year, the majority in Asia.
"In today's world, to be born female, is to be born high-risk," says Ms Maura Quinn, director of UNICEF Ireland. "Son preferences result in the widespread abortion of female foetuses and the murder of new born girls is known to take place in some communities, particularly in parts of Asia."
The report argues that education is an important component in efforts to protect girls from violence. UNICEF also wants laws that criminalise gender-based violence, but says that only one-quarter of the world's nations - 44 countries - have enacted legislation against domestic violence. Fewer still have laws against sexual harassment or marital rape. Ireland is listed as having legislation covering all three areas.
Almost three billion people - half the world's population - do not have access to a latrine, UNICEF also reports. Whereas gains have been made in the last 10 years in providing access to clean water, sanitation has lagged because of cost, population pressure and cultural resistance. The result is the widespread incidence of diarrhoea, which kills 2.2 million children a year.
The report, which is published annually, ranks nations according to their progress on issues affecting the health, welfare and rights of children. In a foreward, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, says it challenges nations to fulfil the promises they made at the 1990 World Summit for Children to improve the lives of young people.
Ireland, which already had one of the lowest child death rates in the world, achieved a 50 per cent reduction in this rate between 1980 and 1995.
Multinational manufacturers of infant formula come in for heavy criticism in the report over their marketing activities in the developing world. In spite of international pleas and a marketing code agreed to 16 years ago, the manufacturers of breast-milk substitutes continue to promote their products unethically, the report claims.
It accuses companies such as Nestle, Wyeth and Gerber of "wilful misinterpretation" of the agreed code, as well as the distribution of free samples as an "insidious" form of promotion.
Breast-feeding strengthens a baby's immune system, whereas infant formula can cause disease or even death, particularly in areas where access to safe water is a problem.
