Sri Lanka, Nov. 20 -- Nearly one in three women - around 840 million globally - have faced intimate partner or sexual violence during their lifetime, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners. The findings reveal little progress over the past two decades in addressing this persistent human rights crisis.

In the last year alone, 316 million women aged 15 or older were subjected to physical or sexual violence by a partner. While there has been a slight decline in cases over the past 20 years, the pace of change has been painfully slow, with only a 0.2% annual reduction.

The report also includes, for the first time, estimates of sexual violence by non-partners. It finds that 263 million women have exp...