Rape is widespread all over the world, and all countries, as well as the UN, need to do more to improve legislation to improve conviction rates and protect women, Dubravka Šimonović, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, has told UN News.

In her last report for the UN in the role, entitled: Rape as a grave and systematic human rights violation and gender-based violence against women, Ms. Šimonović, a highly experienced independent human rights expert, calls for governments to ensure that rape laws are in line with international human rights legislation which, she says, has evolved significantly over recent decades.

Speaking to UN News’s Conor Lennon, Ms. Šimonović said that impunity remains a major problem.