November 25, 2006 Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation. And it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture, or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development, and peace.- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, 1999
At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime- with the abuser usually someone known to her. Violence against women and girls is a universal problem of epidemic proportions. Perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation that we know today, it devastates lives, fractures communities, and stalls development.
Statistics paint a horrifying picture of the social consequences of violence against women, in 2002, the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation declaring violence against women a public health emergency, and a major cause of death and disability for women 16 to 44 years of age. In a World Bank report, it was estimated that violence against women was a serious cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer, and a greater cause of ill-health than traffic accidents and malaria combined. The economic cost is also considerable- a 2003 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the costs of intimate partner violence in the US alone exceed $5.8 billion per year: 4.1 billion are for direct medical and health care services while productivity losses account for nearly $1.8 billion.
For the most part, the human cost of gender-base violence is invisible. Fear and shame continue to prevent many women from speaking out, and data collected is often insufficient and inconsistent. There has been significant progress in the last two decades however, to bring the issue into the open and place it firmly on national and international policy agendas.
Women’s organizations have taken the lead in developing innovative efforts ranging from providing services, drafting and lobbying for legislation, raising awareness through advocacy, education and training, and building national, regional and international end-violence networks.
In the 1980s, the International Day against Violence Against Women was among the first campaigns organized, and was observed on November 25 th each year across Latin America, to honor the Mirabel sisters, three political activists who were assassinated. In 1999, the UN joined the campaign by designating November 25 th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign is another campaign that is symbolic of the global women’s movement and end-violence networks. Coordinated by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, it runs from November 25 th to December 10 th (Human Rights Day), and involves hundreds of organizations around the world in activities ranging from media programs, to demonstrations, to conferences, exhibitions and performances.
