25% rise in gender-based violence

LAHORE:

Sahil, an organisation monitoring gender-based violence, has reported a significant rise in crimes against women across Pakistan during the first eleven months of 2025 in its annual report.

The report has been compiled from data published in 81 national newspapers spanning all four provinces, the Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

It shows that 6,543 incidents were reported in 2025, compared with 5,253 cases in 2024. This reflects an increase of nearly twenty-five percent over one year.

The incidents documented between January and November 2025 include 1,414 cases of murder, 1,144 of abduction, 1,060 of physical assault, 649 suicide cases, and 585 cases of rape.

The data further indicates that in 32 percent of the rape cases, the perpetrators were known to the survivors, while 17 percent involved strangers.

Husbands were implicated in 12 percent of the cases, and in 21 percent of incidents the identity of the perpetrators was not reported.

The findings also highlight that a majority of gender-based violence takes place within victims' homes, accounting for 60 percent of the recorded cases, whereas 13 percent occurred at the perpetrator's own premises.

Regionally, Punjab accounted for 78 percent of the total cases, followed by Sindh with 14 percent, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 6 percent, and a combined total of 2 percent from Balochistan, Islamabad, AJK, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Of all reported incidents, 77 percent were registered with the police, while 21 percent contained no information regarding registration. Only two cases involved a refusal by police to lodge a complaint.

Last week, the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) released its own fact sheet on violence against women, recording more than 20,000 incidents nationwide during the first six months of 2025.

The SSDO report pointed to extremely low conviction rates, delays in investigation and judicial processes, and poor quality of evidence as major challenges.

Punjab was cited as the most prominent province due to what the organisation described as comparatively active reporting mechanisms.

Sahil's latest assessment warns that the actual scale of gender-based violence may be far higher, as many incidents go unreported due to social barriers, lack of access, and safety concerns.

The organisation stressed that without ensuring safe reporting environments, effective legal assistance, and timely justice for survivors, the growing trend of violence cannot be curbed.