Violence against women, girls must stop now
Violence against women, girls must stop now
“This is outrageous and its must stop”. Those where the words of the UN Secretary General at a meeting to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Under the theme Orange Your Neighborhood, the UN Secretariat Building and the Empire State Building in New York were lit orange in an effort to galvanize action to end the pandemic of violence against women.
The UN says up to 70% of women in the world have experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime.
With iconic structures dipped in an orange hue, the UN is shining a bright light on a challenge the world is struggling to beat. Ban Ki-moon called violence against women and girls a pandemic that destroys lives.
“Violence against women and girls does not emerge from nowhere. It is simply the most extreme example of the political, financial, social and economic oppression of women and girls worldwide. Ending this violence is central to our efforts to empower women and girls and to build stronger, fairer, more inclusive and stable societies,” says Ban.
While violence against women remains a global concern, unresolved issues like the abduction of the Chibok girls in Nigeria quickly became a topic of debate.
UN Women’s chief Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka called it a tragedy that continues to haunt her.
“It is quite difficult to work in the formal structure because the information is difficult and patchy and I think that with all of the challenges that they are facing in Nigeria right now, just from the series of abductions, when you engage with the authorities, the girls are one of the many challenges that they seem to be facing right now. So it’s very difficult to get direction and that is why we are staying with the campaign which is driven by civil society and right now with civil society, we are just as frustrated as you have become. We just don’t have information or leads,” says Mlambo-Ngcuka.
UN Women’s Safe Cities Global Initiative also signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of New York that aims to eliminate sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence in the city’s public spaces.
Legal Counsel to the Mayor of New York, Maya Wiley says, “40% of violent felonies in this city are related to domestic violence so if you just take that number and think about what it then needs to focus on domestic violence. As an issue its clear that the safe city that the mayors committed to producing does require gender equality, does require attention to these issues and the police actually receive more than 770 reports of domestic violence a day that’s reported. We know that in our public housing projects, for example, 75% of domestic violence incidents probably go unreported and have no contact at all with the authorities, so that number as high as it is, does not actually get at all of the things that are currently happening in the city.”
The international day to end violence against women also marks the beginning of the global 16 days campaign against gender violence.
Source: sabc.co.za