INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2007 Ending Impunity for Violence Against
Women and Girls
"Violence against women has yet to receive the
priority attention and resources needed at all levels to tackle it with
the seriousness and visibility necessary."
Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence
against women (2006) (A/61/122/Add.1)
While manifestations of violence against women and girls vary
across social, economic, cultural and historical contexts, it is
clear that violence against women and girls remains a devastating reality
in all parts of the world. Existing research, data and testimonials from
women and girls world-wide provide chilling evidence. It is a pervasive
violation of human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender
equality, development and peace.
Such violence is unacceptable, whether perpetrated by the State and its
agents or by family members or strangers, in the public or private sphere,
in peacetime or in times of conflict.
International, regional and national legal and policy frameworks have
been established, covering many different forms of violence in public as
well as in private settings. However, progress in the development of such
legal norms, standards and policies has not been accompanied by comparable
progress in their implementation. It remains insufficient and inconsistent
in all parts of the world.
States have an obligation to protect women and girls from violence, to
hold perpetrators accountable and to provide justice and remedies to
victims. The failure to meet these obligations is unacceptable. When the
State fails to hold the perpetrators of violence accountable and society
explicitly or tacitly condones such violence, impunity not only encourages
further abuses but also gives the message that male violence against women
is acceptable and normal. The result is the denial of justice to the
individual victims/survivors, as well as the reinforcement of the
prevailing gender inequality.
Eliminating violence against women remains one of the most serious and
urgent challenges of our time. Every one has a responsibility to act when
confronted with violence. Each one of us has a duty to support and sustain
a political and social environment where violence against women and girls
is not tolerated; where friends, family members, neighbors, men and women,
intervene to prevent perpetrators to go unpunished.
A panel discussion on this topic will mark the United Nations official
observance of International Women's Day on 8 March 2007. The panel will
examine good practices and examples of specific solutions to eliminate
violence and end impunity from the global to the local levels. The
panel discussion will illustrate various dimensions of the problem from
perspectives of parliamentarians, law enforcement officials, civil society
and the media.
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