Join UNIFEM's Campaign to End Violence Against Women

Statistics indicate that one in three women will be the victim of violence in her lifetime. Violence against women can include beatings, coerced sex or other forms of abuse. It is a universal problem that devastates lives, fractures communities and impedes development.

Violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture. It takes a devastating toll on women's lives, on their families, and on society as a whole. Most societies prohibit such violence — yet the reality is that too often, it is covered up or tacitly condoned. — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, 8 March 2007

Currently UNIFEM is collecting signatures online in a campaign to Say No To Violence. The goal is to deliver one million signatures to the Secretary General on November 25 in order to send a strong message to the world's decision makers that ending violence against women should be a top priority in the global agenda.

Action: Add your voice to this campaign by signing on at: http://www.saynotoviolence.org/

Background Information:

Statistics paint a horrifying picture of the social and health consequences of violence against women. For women aged 15 to 44 years, violence is a major cause of death and disability. In a 1994 study based on World Bank data about ten selected risk factors facing women in this age group, rape and domestic violence rated higher than cancer, motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria.

The economic cost of violence against women is considerable. A 2003 report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the costs of intimate partner violence in the United States alone exceed US$5.8 billion per year: US$4.1 billion are for direct medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly US$1.8 billion. Violence against women impoverishes individuals, families and communities, reducing the economic development of each nation.

In many societies, rape victims, women suspected of engaging in premarital sex, and women accused of adultery have been murdered by their relatives because the violation of a woman's chastity is viewed as an affront to the family's honor. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the annual world-wide number of "honor killing" victims may be as high as 5000 women.

Women's bodies have become part of the battleground for those who use terror as a tactic of war. Women are raped, abducted, humiliated and made to endure forced pregnancy, sexual abuse and slavery. Violence against women during or after armed conflicts has been reported in every international or non-international war-zone, including Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Chechnya/Russian Federation, Darfur, Sudan, northern Uganda and the former Yugoslavia.

Several studies have revealed increasing links between violence against women and HIV/AIDS. Women who have experienced violence are at a higher risk of HIV infection. A survey among 1,366 South African women showed that women who were beaten by their partners were 48 percent more likely to be infected with HIV than those who were not victims of battery.


For further information:

www.unifem.org
www.who.int/gender/violence
www.un.org/womenwatch/directory/violence_against_women_3004.htm
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/ViolenceAgainstWomen.aspx