By WAM
New York : Stressing that “progress for women is progress for all,” the United Nations has urged the world to invest in its women and girls.
In a statement released ahead of International Women’s Day, celebrated Saturday March 8, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged all States to review applicable laws, and to revise them or enact new ones to ensure that violence against women is always criminalized.
” I will call on all States to enforce their laws to end impunity”; said UN Secretary General Violence against women is an issue that cannot wait. A brief look at the statistics makes it clear. At least one out of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Through the practice of prenatal sex selection, countless others are denied the right even to exist. No country, no culture, no woman young or old is immune to this scourge. Far too often, the crimes go unpunished, the perpetrators walk free; Pan Ki Moon said He continued: ‘War has always been devastating, but now, women and girls are themselves targets in the war zone. Today’s weapons of armed conflict include rape, sexual violence, and the abduction of children conscripted as soldiers or forced into sexual slavery.
‘On my visits to conflict-torn areas around the world, I have spoken with women who have endured horrific forms of violence. I will forever be haunted by their suffering — but equally, I will always be inspired by their courage. These mothers, sisters, daughters and friends are determined to reclaim their lives.
‘This is a campaign for them. It is a campaign for the women and girls who have the right to live free of violence, today and in the future. It is a campaign to stop the untold cost that violence against women inflicts on all humankind.
‘We know that gender inequality is hampering progress towards the Millennium Development Goals — our common vision to build a better world in the 21st century.
We know that violence against women compounds the enormous social and economic toll on families, communities, even whole nations.
‘And we know that when we work to eradicate violence against women, we empower our greatest resource for development: mothers raising children; law-makers in parliament; chief executives, negotiators, teachers; doctors, policewomen, peacekeepers and more.
And so my campaign to end violence against women will continue until 2015 to coincide with the target date for the Millennium Development Goals.
‘Our campaign will build on a deep and broad partnership, bringing in all society to take us to the end of violence against women and girls everywhere. To help us reach our destination, I call on young people around the world — our leaders of tomorrow. I call on the private sector around the world, whose reach is indispensable in advancing our cause.
‘I call on women’s groups around the world, whose valiance and vision have brought us to where we are today, and who will keep charting the way forward. I call on men around the world to lead by example: to make clear that violence against women is an act perpetrated by a coward, and that speaking up against it is a badge of honour’.