Targeted violence against female public officials, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, according to a global survey released on June 15 2011. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan, India and Somalia feature in descending order after Afghanistan in the list of the five worst states, the poll among gender experts shows. The survey has been compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of a website, TrustLaw Woman aimed at providing free legal advice for women's groups around the world. The appearance of India, a country rapidly developing into an economic super-power, was unexpected. It is ranked as extremely dangerous because of the subcontinent's high level of female infanticide and sex trafficking.
The Report was covered in The Guardian; read the full story.
