LONDON: India is the world´s most dangerous country for women due to thehigh risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labour, accordingto a poll of global experts released on Tuesday.

War-torn Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third in the ThomsonReuters Foundation survey of about 550 experts on women´s issues, followedby Somalia and Saudi Arabia.

The only Western nation in the top 10 was the United States, which rankedjoint third when respondents were asked where women were most at risk ofsexual violence, harassment and being coerced into sex.

Experts said India moving to the top of poll showed not enough was beingdone to tackle the danger women faced, more than five years after the rapeand murder of a student on a bus in Delhi made violence against women anational priority.

“India has shown utter disregard and disrespect for women . . . rape,marital rapes, sexual assault and harassment, female infanticide has goneunabated,” said Manjunath Gangadhara, an official at the Karnataka stategovernment.

“The (world´s) fastest growing economy and leader in space and technologyis shamed for violence committed against women.”

Government data shows reported cases of crime against women rose by 83percent between 2007 and 2016, when there were four cases of rape reportedevery hour.

The survey asked respondents which five of the 193 United Nations memberstates they thought were most dangerous for women and which country wasworst in terms of healthcare, economic resources, cultural or traditionalpractices, sexual violence and harassment, non-sexual violence and humantrafficking.

Respondents also ranked India the most dangerous country for women in termsof human trafficking, including sex slavery and domestic servitude, and forcustomary practices such as forced marriage, stoning and femaleinfanticide. India´s Ministry of Women and Child Development declined tocomment on the survey results.

The poll was a repeat of a survey in 2011 that found experts sawAfghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Pakistan and Somalia asthe most dangerous countries for women.

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Afghanistan fared worst in four of the seven questions, with concerns overhealthcare and conflict-related violence. Kimberly Otis, director ofadvancement at Women for Afghan Women, said women and girls faced severegender-based violence, abuse, illiteracy, poverty, and other human rightsoffences.

“The ongoing war and conflict are getting worse in Afghanistan, which putsthe lives of women and girls at increasing risk,” said US -based Otis, asurvey participant.

Afghanistan´s Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz said thedeteriorating security situation was making life difficult for women, withlarge parts of the country still in the control of Taliban fighters afternearly 17 years of war.

“Nowadays, suicide bombings and armed conflict is the third (highest) causeof deaths and disability in Afghanistan,” he told the Thomson ReutersFoundation in an interview in London.

“Instead of focusing (spending) on maternal health, on nutritional status,we spend it on trauma.”

The impact of a seven-year war drove Syria into third place in the survey,amid concerns over access to healthcare and both sexual and non-sexualviolence.

“There are so many dangers for girls and women,” said Maria Al Abdeh,executive director of Women Now For Development, which supports women´scentres in Syria.

“There is sexual violence by government forces. Domestic violence and childmarriage are increasing and more women are dying in childbirth. The tragedyis nowhere near an end. “Somalia, where more than two decades of war hasfuelled a culture of violence and weakened institutions meant to uphold thelaw, was again named as one of the five most dangerous countries for women.

Saudi Arabia ranked fifth, with women´s rights experts saying there hadbeen some progress in recent years, but the recent arrests of femaleactivists ahead of the lifting of a ban on women driving showed much moreneeded to be done.

“One of the worst laws that prevent women from having equal opportunitiesis guardianship – because every woman is subjected to a male guardian. Shecannot get a passport, cannot travel, sometimes she cannot work,” saidAhlam Akram, founder of BASIRA (British Arabs Supporting Universal Women´sRights) in the UK. “We need to completely obliterate this system. I thinkchange is coming, but it takes time.”