2 of the 4 most dangerous cities for girls and young women are Latin American, according to a Plan International report

According to Plan International, a nongovernmental organization for children's rights, "sexual harassment is the main security risk faced by girls and young women around the world." On October 2, the NGO published the results of an online survey of around 400 experts from 22 cities around the world, who "work on women's rights, children's rights and urban safety."

Leer en español: ¡Cuidado! Estas son las 4 ciudades más inseguras para las niñas y jóvenes

This survey revealed the risk of girls and young women being sexually harassed and reveals the most dangerous and safest cities for this population. According to this report, 78% of the experts consulted explained that sexual harassment is "an extremely high or high risk for girls and young women in their city".

On the other hand, "77% said that, in their opinion, it happens a lot or quite frequently in public". 60% of these experts also stated that women who are victims of sexual harassment almost never or never report.

"Cities in developing countries are growing at an unprecedented rate, with millions of girls living in urban areas by 2030. We must act now or we risk denying an entire generation of girls their right to learn and play an active role in society," said Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, CEO of Plan International.

The most dangerous cities for girls and young people

According to the Plan International report, of the most insecure or dangerous cities for girls and young women, 2 are Latin American. On the one hand, there is Bogotá, Colombia. This city was qualified by experts as the most insecure place in the world for girls and young women, taking IGNORE INTO account "the risk of sexual harassment in their city."

Lima, Peru, is also mentioned, which was qualified as the most dangerous city for girls to go out alone to the street or to get on public transport. The other two cities that were qualified by experts as the most insecure for this population are: Johannesburg and Kampala.

On the one hand, Johannesburg, South Africa, ranks second in the risk thermometer. In addition, it is the "most dangerous for sexual violence and also for robbery and theft", explained the NGO. On the other hand, Kampala, Uganda, "was seen as the city where girls are most at risk of being kidnapped and killed," said the NGO.

It may interest you: Abortion in Mexico: This is the situation

"When it's night here, the girls are not safe, I've been attacked several times and a year ago, when I was pregnant, I was walking down the street with a friend when she was raped and murdered by a drug gang," said Faridah, 19, who participates in the Safe Cities for Girls Project of Plan International in Kampala.

Stockholm, Sweden, was rated as the safest city in the world for girls and women. Hanoi, Vietnam, and Tokyo, Japan, were also rated as safe in relation to sexual violence, theft and robbery against women.

Solutions for girls and women

Lucia Temer, director of the Liberta Institute in Sao Paulo, an organization that works to fight child sexual exploitation in Brazil, said that in the case of her city, it is urgently needed to change the culture of blaming girls for acts of violence of those who are victims.

"Violence against girls and women is a daily thing, girls who are victims are made to feel guilty, it is a cultural problem so strong in society that it becomes invisible, we urgently need to address this," the expert said to Plan International.

From Dublin, Ireland, another expert consulted by Plan International agreed with that mentioned by Temer. According to him, "it is necessary that there be a change in culture so that girls and young women feel comfortable reporting incidents of harassment and violence, and feel confident that their complaints will have consequences."

In Bogotá, the main means of transportation in the capital of the coffee country, and the place where most of these acts have been committed, will implement a panic button through an easily accessible app that every woman can download. Thus, with a simple message, the alert mode will be activated so that the authorities or the security personnel of TransMilenio can immediately reach her, according to the newspaper ADN.

LatinAmerican Post I Edwin Guerrero Nova

Translated from "¡Cuidado! Estas son las 4 ciudades más inseguras para las niñas y jóvenes"

Listen this article