“I
welcome the chorus of voices calling for an end to violence that affects an
estimated one in three women in her lifetime. I applaud leaders who are helping
to enact and enforce laws and change mindsets. And I pay tribute to all those
heroes around the world who help victims to heal and to become agents of
change.”- Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General
“Up to 70 per cent of women experience
violence in their lifetime.
Between 500,000 to 2 million people are
trafficked annually into situations including prostitution, forced labour,
slavery or servitude, according to estimates. Women and girls account for about
80 per cent of the detected victims.
It is estimated that more than 130 million
girls and women alive today have undergone FGM/C, mainly in Africa and some
Middle Eastern countries.
The cost of intimate partner violence in the
United States alone exceeds $5.8 billion per year: $4.1 billion is for direct
medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly
$1.8 billion.” UN facts and figures.
As the world marks
today, November 25, International
Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a great initiative of
the United Nations to pull voices together around the world to increase
consciousness and propel actions to put an end to the global plague, called
violence against women. Today’s event, however, syncs with the assassination of
the three political activists, Mirabal sisters, in the
Dominican Republic in 1960. See UN
Women
for more staggering facts and figures.
I, too, join my voice today
with the rest of the voices ululating for an end to all forms of violence
against women. The little you can do today to save women from the barrage of violent
attacks on them will yield an optimal value tomorrow. Yes You Can; Just Do It!!!
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