ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that women face a continuum of violence during and outside times of conflict. Women and girls around the globe continue to experience violence on a massive scale with profound and devastating impacts World Health Organisation (WHO). Gender-based violence includes but is not limited to domestic violence, incest, rape, trafficking and forced prostitution, arranged marriages and child marriages, dowry-related violence, female genital mutilation, female infanticide, forced pregnancy and enforced sterilisation. In Timor-Leste, considerable traction around gender equality and domestic violence was obtained from the presence of the United Nations and the influx of international donors and NGOs seeking to partner with local NGOS. Importantly, this space created an opportunity for women's rights to be recognised, and principles of gender equality and non-discrimination to become entrenched in legal, political and economic developments. The Penal Code 2009 established the offence of Mistreatment of a spouse'.
