SECTION 6 - RIGHT TO LIFE, PROHIBITION OF TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT, AND RIGHTS OF NON CITIZENS (Articles 3, 6, 7 and 13) A Violence against women LOIPR Please provide an update on the legislative, administrative and other measures taken to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including spousal rape, by ensuring, inter alia, prompt investigations, prosecutions of perpetrators and the provision of effective remedies to victims. Please provide statistical data on violence against women, including on: (a) the number of complaints received; (b) the number of cases prosecuted; (c) the number of convictions secured and acquittals; and (d) the reparation provided to victims. Please provide an update on the status of investigation of the cases filed against the “Roast Busters”, who reportedly have violated several young, including underage, women. (Para 13) 124 Violence against women and children in New Zealand is pervasive. The Commission believes this in New Zealand’s most widespread human rights issue. As Kofi Annan has noted, perhaps the most shameful human rights violation.66 Studies quoted by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (now Ministry of Women) show the gender of victims of sexual violence as being between 92 and 95 percent female. 67 The groups most at risk of sexual violence are young women, Māori women, women who have been victimised before and people with disabilities.68 Young women between the ages of 16 and 30 comprise 66-70 percent of victims of sexual violence. Just under half of all victims are New Zealand European, just under one third is Māori, and just over one tenth is Pacific. Urgent and ongoing attention is required to address violence in the home and the wider community. 125 In 2014, there were 7163 recorded male assaults female offences and 6103 recorded offences for breaching a protection order.69 There were 1,927 reported sexual offences against an adult over 16 years. While these statistics are compelling, they do not reflect the full picture – only 1 in 10 sexual assaults are actually reported to 66 Kofi Annan (1999\0, quoted in “Violence against Women in Aotearoa New Zealand 2009”, Herbert, Hill, A and DicksonS. Published online at http://.roundtablevaw.org.nz/Integrated.pdf) 67 Restoring Soul (2009), Ministry of Women.(Wellington New Zealand) p84 68 V Kingi and J Jordan 2009 and S Triggs et al 2009 quoted in Restoring Soul (2009) Ministry of Women’s Affairs (Wellington New Zealand) p12 http://www.mwa.govt.nz/news-and-pubs/publications/restoring-soul-pdf 69 https://nzfvc.org.nz/news/increasing-family-violence-calls-fewer-resolutions-nzfvc-data-summaries-2015