DUSHANBE, November 25, 2009, Asia-Plus — On November 24, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon marked the 10th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by launching a Network of Men Leaders, a major new initiative bringing together current and former politicians, activists, religious and community figures to combat the global pandemic, according to the UN News Center.
“These men will add their voices to the growing global chorus for action,” he said, noting that 70 per cent of women experience in their lifetime some form of physical or sexual violence from men, the majority from husbands, intimate partners or someone they know.
Each member of the Network, part of the “UNiTE to End Violence against Women” campaign that Mr. Ban launched last year, will work to support the longstanding efforts of women and civil society organizations worldwide to end violence, undertaking actions from raising public awareness to advocating for adequate laws.
He announced new grants for projects on the ground to be awarded this year by the UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women, managed by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM
), amounting to $10.5 million for 13 initiatives in 18 countries and territories.
Resources for the Fund, which gives grants to support innovative regional, local and national initiatives, fall drastically short for meeting a vast demand, with grant requests totaling $857 million received just for 2009. To address this gap, the target of raising an annual $100 million for the Fund by 2015 has been set by the Secretary-General as an objective of his UNiTE campaign.
By 2015, the UNiTE campaign aims to achieve the following five goals worldwide: adopt and enforce national laws to address and punish all forms of violence against women and girls; adopt and implement multi-sectoral national action plans; strengthen data collection on the prevalence of violence against women and girls; increase public awareness and social mobilization; and address sexual violence in conflict.
Manual for domestic violence (DV) practitioners entitled “Breaking the Silence” has been presented in Dushanbe today. The publication was prepared in the framework of the project Prevention of Domestic Violence (PDV/AVEDIS), which is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) jointly with UNIFEM, according to the DPV/AVEDIS. The project direct partners – local NGOs Dilafrouz, Hamroz and Mahbouba, as well as crisis centers Ghamkhori and Bovari and some others – have participated in preparation of the manual under the direction of Dr. Bekker, Professor with the International Academy at the Free University of Berlin. The manual is published in the Tajik and Russian languages.
By resolution 54/134 of December 17, 1999 the UN General Assembly designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on that day.
Women”s activists have marked November 25 as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).
On December 20, 1993, the UN General Assembly adopted Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
