This publication gives an insight into the exploitation and violence that affects the everyday lives of women and girls around the world by examining different types of violence through the cycle of women's lives including discrimination at birth and at school, child prostitution and pornography, child marriage, domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, servitude and abusive cultural practices. It contains a CD-ROM with training and advocacy material, including a documentary film 'Our bodies, their battleground'. This publication is part of the long-term commitment of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Integrated Regional Information Network to promote human rights and to raise awareness of the gender-based violence which exists in all societies.