young women have experienced sexual violence. In the Philippines and Nepal available data shows that sexual violence against young women is as high as 2.8 per cent, and 3 per cent respectively.21 However, data from other sources indicates that figures could be much higher. A joint study supported by UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV in 2013 showed that 35 per cent of all women in the region have experienced intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. In some countries, prevalence rates are as high as 70 per cent.22 While these number are for women of all age groups, the patterns of violence for young women is similar if not higher (given their vulnerability to trafficking). A higher number of young women are potentially subjugated to sexual violence than official data indicates. The average percentage of children (ages 1-14) experiencing physical discipline or psychological aggression from a caregiver (indicator 16.2.1) is 70.7 per cent. Data is available for 21 Asia-Pacific countries. The only countries with a percentage that is below 50 per cent (within the available data) are Mongolia (49.3 per cent) and Turkmenistan (37 per cent).23 Priority action should be taken to raise awareness of violence against children, and young men and women, including the impact not only for children but also for society, and to put in place specific measures to reduce the vulnerability to violence in all settings, break the intergenerational cycle of violence and ensure an effective response for children, and young men and women who have experienced violence. • Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms (target 16.5). Corruption in all its forms hinders sustainable development and promotes inequality. While official data for corruption in the public sector (indicator 16.5.1) is not available, the corruption perception index (CPI) by Transparency International provides a good picture of public sector corruption. There is high variance in the performance of Asia-Pacific countries on the CPI. On average, the region is failing, and has a score of just 44 on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 means very clean and 0 reflects a deep-rooted, systemic corruption problem.24 Widespread corruption is undermining rule of law in the region. On the proportion of engaged in bribery or were asked for a bribe by public officials (indicator 16.5.2). Each country has data for one non-overlapping year between 2009 and 2016. Given this limited data, the countries with a proportion of businesses that engaged in bribery as defined by indicator 16.5.2 over 40 per cent are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. The countries with the smallest percentage of businesses engaging in bribery are Bhutan (0.9 per cent) and Georgia (2.2 per cent). Overall, the Asia-Pacific region has an average proportion of 23.8 per cent of businesses that have engaged in bribery.25 Reducing corruption requires a holistic approach – from strong legal frameworks to capable oversight institutions, to a range of measures (including access to information, and grievance mechanisms). Countries, multilateral organizations, local organizations and private sector need to jointly develop and implement anticorruption measures to fully tackle corruption. Without such sustained efforts, provision of quality services, and promoting equality cannot be realized. • Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international cooperation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime (means of implementation 16.a). Goal 16 as well as the SDGs more generally “seek to realize the human rights of all”.26 The Agenda is explicitly “grounded in international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international human rights treaties and the Declaration on the Right to Development”.27 Also, the Agenda “is to be implemented in a manner consistent with the rights and obligations of States under international law”.28 In 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UN Statistics Division, SDG Metadata Repository, Data for indicator 16.2.3. Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18. UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV, Why do some men use violence against women and how can we prevent it (2013). Partners for Prevention was a regional join programme of UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV for gender based violence prevention in Asia and the Pacific. UN Statistics Division, SDG Metadata Repository, Data for indicator 16.2.1. proportion of children aged 1-14 years who experienced physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by caregivers in last month (per cent of children aged 1-14 years). Transparency International, “Slow, imperfect progress across Asia Pacific”, (2018). Available at https://www.transparency. org/news/feature/slow_imperfect_progress_across_asia_pacific . UN Statistics Division, SDG Metadata Repository Preamble, A/RES/70/1 Paragraph 10, A/RES/70/1 Paragraph 18, A/RES/70/1