One in three women may suffer abuse and violence in her lifetime. This is an appalling and widespread human rights violation that remains one of the most under-recognised pandemics of our time.
Think of it: being a woman or a girl actually puts you at risk. Equally upsetting is the fact that too many people — whether on the main street or in the corridors of government — believe that violence against women is inevitable.
We need to change this mentality: it is crucial that violence against women be recognised and responded to as a human-rights violation. Whether in the form of domestic violence, rape in war, or practices such as female genital mutilation and forced or child marriage, violence against women is a crime that cannot be tolerated and, wherever it occurs, must be met with the full force of the law.
I became Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem) to amplify the voices of the women and girls who have been subjected to violence and abuse. In more and more countries women are refusing to be passive victimsÂ. They are organisingÂ, speaking out, demanding accountability and action, and saying no to the violence they face.
Ending violence against women is everybody’s business. That’s why, in November last year, in observance of the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women, Unifem launched the ‘Say NO to Violence against Women†internet campaign, calling on people all over the world to raise their voices and add their names to an ever-growing movement of people. Nearly a year later hundreds of thousands of people have responded to the call. More than 200 organisations have joined up and government ministers and presidents representing more than 50 countries have stepped up and publicly made a commitment through the ‘Say NO†outreach campaign.
During a recent trip to New York I met two heroines who loudly said ‘NO†and won a major victory against gender-based violence: Nujood Ali, a 10-year-old girl from Yemen, who escaped from a forced marriage, and her lawyer, Shada Nasser, who put herself on the line to secure the young girl’s freedom.
After suffering repeated beatings and rape Nujood, who had been married at nine, ran away to a courthouse to seek help. Nujood’s courage found an equal in Shada, a human rights lawyer. Their case made history in April this year when, with Shada’s intervention, Nujood won not only her divorce but also a victory for individual courage and girls’ and women’s human rights. Nujood is now back at school and, when asked about her plans, says: ‘… I want to be a lawyer.â€
In Kosovo I listened to many women caught in the middle of that conflict, who experienced brutal, sexual violence by soldiers. Their accounts could have been plucked from today’s headlines. Sexual violence is a weapon of war, an instrument of terror that shatters the lives of women and men, fractures communities and forces women to flee their homes. Yet, for too long, wartime sexual violence has been cloaked in one of history’s greatest silences.
On June 20 this year the UN Security Council responded to the accumulated weight of that silence by unanimously adopting Resolution 1820, which explicitly recognises that there can be neither peace nor security as long as communities live in the shadow of sexual terror.
The resolution calls for stepped-up efforts by all involved in the conflicts to protect women and girls from targeted attacks. Now it is clear that ending violence against women is becoming a top priority for governments and important institutions such as the UN.
Unifem, with the UN secretaryÂ-general, is calling for greater support for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which provides local organisations in developing countries with the resources to find practical, hands-on solutions. The UN trust fund grantees have worked to prevent human trafficking in the Ukraine, assisted survivors of domestic violence in Haiti and helped implement a new law relating to rape in war-torn Liberia.
Projects such as these and many efforts around the world demonstrate that the pandemic of violence against women is a problem with a solution. When commitment and resources are available, change has a greater chance of taking effect: policies can be adjusted, services can be established and judges and police trained.
So, we encourage governments to fulfil their commitments and we encourage men and women to become involved in the efforts in their communities to stop violence against women and to let government officials know that implementing policies that end violence against women are important, because a life free of violence is every woman’s right. —