A/74/148 study by the World Health Organization (WHO), in practice, the risk of sexual violence at the hands of intimate partners, members of the victim’s household or persons known to them is significantly higher than at the hands of strangers. 34 As far as children are concerned, approximately 18 to 19 per cent of women and 8 per cent of men report to have been sexually abused during childhood. 35 Moreover, studies on marital rape indicate a prevalence of 10 to 14 per cent among all married women and 40 to 50 per cent of battered women. 36 Transposed globally, those figures suggest that hundreds of millions of children, women and men are likely to have been or to currently be exposed to sexual abuse. That disturbing extrapolation becomes even more devastating considering that, given various barriers to reporting and recording such incidents, the figures are likely in fact to be a considerable underrepresentation of the true scale of the problem. The Special Rapporteur has repeatedly affirmed that sexual violence amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and, in some circumstances, even to torture (A/HRC/13/39/Add.5, para. 53; A/72/178, para. 34). 37 31. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, any form of sexual violence constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and amounts to torture when it intentionally inflicts severe pain or suffering on a powerless person for purposes such as obtaining information, coercion, punishment or intimidation, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, including mere se xual or sadistic gratification or unequal gender power relations. D. Psychological and emotional violence, including coercive control 32. Domestic violence can include various forms of severe and/or systematic psychological or emotional violence. Psychological or emotional violence can include verbal assault, serious neglect, enforced isolation from the outside world, persistent ridicule, the use of intimate information to threaten or degrade and “gaslighting” – a form of psychological manipulation seeking to make a person question their own memory, perception or even sanity – through persistent misdirection, lies or other attempts to destabilize and create self-doubt. Emotional and psychological violence targets the emotional and psychological resilience, stability and well-being of the victim and is often a precursor to, or inflicted in combination with, physical violence. 33. States are also increasingly recognizing and addressing the phenomenon of “coercive control”, which can be understood as an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten their victim, with a view to coercing or controlling them. Thus, for example, “coercive” behaviour has been described as encompassing psychological, physical, sexual, financial and emotional abuse, and “controlling” behaviour as making a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depri ving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour. 38 34. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, psychological and emotional violence, including coercive control, amounts to cruel, inhuman or degra ding treatment or __________________ 34 35 36 37 38 12/23 WHO, Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women (Geneva, 2005). M. Stoltenborgh et al, “A global perspective on child sexual abuse: meta-analysis of prevalence around the world”, in Child Maltreatment (2011), pp. 79–101. E.K. Martin et al, “A review of marital rape” in Aggression and Violent Behaviour (2007). Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, fact sheet No. 4 (Rev.1), Combating Torture (2002), pp. 31–32. United Kingdom domestic abuse bill (2019). 19-11892