The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed every November 25. According to the United Nations, violence against women and girls continues to be one of the most widespread human rights violations in our world today.
UN data notes, one-in-three women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner.
“The United Nations is committed to ending all forms of violence against women and girls.” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “I call on governments, the private sector, civil society, and people everywhere to take a firm stand against sexual violence and misogyny.”
“We must show greater solidarity with survivors, advocates, and women’s rights defenders,” he added.
Meanwhile, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka discussed the issue of rape and how it continues to pervade societies around the world.
“Almost universally, most perpetrators of rape go unreported or unpunished,” the UN Women head noted. “In many countries, women know that they are overwhelmingly more likely to be blamed than believed when they report sexual assault.”
“Rape isn’t an isolated brief act,” she added. “It damages flesh and reverberates in memory.”
Mlambo-Ngcuka went on to discuss various methods of combatting rape, including making it universally illegal and suggesting more women in law enforcement.
“One positive step to increase accountability is to make rape universally illegal,” she recommended. “Along with criminalizing rape, we need to get much, much better at putting the victim at the center of response and holding rapists to account.”
“Having more women in police forces and training them adequately is a crucial first step in ensuring that survivors begin to trust again and feel that their complaint is being taken seriously at every stage of what can be a complex process,” the UN official added./WDJ