Same outrage, same fight: SA’s GBV crisis is part of a global pattern

South Africa’s gender-based violence crisis often feels uniquely devastating. In many ways, it is.

Placed alongside the rest of the world, though, a sobering pattern emerges.

The same violence, the same impunity, and the same fight are playing out everywhere, just with different names attached.

Globally, nearly 1 in 3 women will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organisation.

South Africa, India, Latin America, active conflict zones in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the crisis in Gaza each tell a version of that same global statistic.

Each one, though, is distinct and devastating in its own way.

SOUTH AFRICA: WHERE IMPUNITY HAS BECOME THE STORY ITSELF

South Africa’s own numbers are genuinely stark.

According to the Human Sciences Research Council’s 2022 national gender-based violence study, one in three South African women aged 18 and older have experienced physical and sexual abuse in their lifetime.

That’s roughly 7.8 million women.

The study was officially presented to Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga as the country’s first national baseline GBV dataset of its kind.

Earlier this year, we covered the discovery of 11 women’s bodies across Ekurhuleni, alongside Chikunga’s own blunt admission.

“We have the laws. We now have the council. What we do not yet have is a fall in the number of funerals,” she said.

That tension, real legislation existing alongside a persistently low conviction rate, echoes almost exactly what’s happening elsewhere in the world.

INDIA: WHEN THE BURDEN FALLS ON THE SURVIVOR

In India, researchers describe a culture where deeply entrenched patriarchal norms routinely blame victims.

This also minimises the severity of sexual violence, according to academic research published in the journal Frontiers.

Persistent rape myths continue to undermine prosecution and public support for victims.

This includes the belief that a survivor’s clothing, behaviour or prior relationships somehow caused their own assault.

Campaigns like “No Means No” have emerged specifically to challenge these narratives.

This mirrors the same rhetoric South African women have pushed back against this year.

LATIN AMERICA: FEMICIDE AS A DAILY OCCURRENCE

Latin America records some of the highest femicide rates in the world.

According to the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, at least 3,897 women were killed specifically because of their gender.

This happened across 27 countries and territories in 2023 alone.

That’s roughly 11 women every single day.

In over 60% of cases studied, the killer was a current or former partner.

Researchers studying the region have concluded that a country’s level of impunity is a reliable predictor of its femicide rate, the exact same dynamic driving frustration in South Africa right now.

In Haiti specifically, a September 2026 conflict tracker from Georgetown’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security sheds further light on this.

As armed gangs expand territorial control, women and girls face increasingly brutal violence.

This includes killings, kidnappings and rape, amid widespread displacement and the breakdown of protective services.

SUDAN AND THE DRC: WHERE SEXUAL VIOLENCE BECOMES A WEAPON OF WAR

In active conflict zones, sexual violence takes on an even darker dimension.

A UN Human Rights Office report released in June confirmed 546 verified incidents of conflict-related sexual violence across Sudan since the war began in April 2023.

These affected at least 838 victims, the vast majority women and girls, with the youngest just nine years old. 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk was direct about what this constitutes.

“This is a war crime and, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack, a crime against humanity,” he said.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch reported a surge in conflict-related sexual violence in January 2026.

The report described armed groups using rape as a weapon of war across eastern Congo.

Researchers have described the region as the “rape capital of the world.”

Sexual violence there is closely linked to control over valuable mineral resources like coltan, used in much of the world’s electronics.

GAZA: A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS WITH A GENDERED DIMENSION

The ongoing crisis in Gaza has drawn specific attention from UN human rights officials regarding its impact on women and girls.

The UN’s Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Reem Alsalem, has stated that women and girls account for roughly 67% of the more than 57,000 Palestinians killed, as of July 2025.

She has separately raised concerns about rising sexual violence, intimate partner violence and other abuse.

These are occurring amid displacement, overcrowding and collapsed support services within Gaza.

These remain her own assessments as the UN’s designated expert on this issue.

They are offered as part of ongoing international human rights reporting on the crisis.

EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES: A NEW FRONT OVER REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

In Europe and the US, the conversation has increasingly centred on reproductive autonomy itself.

In the US specifically, 14 states have banned abortion entirely since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Several European lawmakers, including some vocal members of the European Parliament, have publicly raised concerns about this trend.

They describe it as a broader global backlash against women’s reproductive rights.

Many are now framing the fight to protect existing protections as newly urgent.

WHY THIS GLOBAL PICTURE MATTERS FOR SOUTH AFRICA

What ties all of this together isn’t geography, it’s impunity.

Whether it’s a stalled prosecution in Gauteng, a femicide case closed without charges in Honduras, or a war crime investigation stalled in Darfur, the common thread is the same.

Violence against women continues largely because consequences remain rare.

South Africa’s fight isn’t happening in isolation.

It’s one visible front in a genuinely global struggle, and recognising that pattern is often the first step toward actually breaking it.

Does seeing South Africa’s crisis in this global context change how you think about it?