Contestants in the annual Miss Peru beauty pageant have made headlines after responding to questions about their "measurements" with gender violence statistics.

The staged "protest", which was approved by the pageant's organisers, saw 23 contestants cite statistics relating to domestic violence and sexual slavery in the South American country in the show's opening segment.

Lima's Camila Canicoba was the first woman to take to the stage. "My measurements are 2,202 cases of femicide reported in the last nine years in my country," she said.