International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

The United Nations General Assembly has designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Resolution 54/134). The premise of the day is to raise awareness of the fact that women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence; furthermore, one of the aims of the day is to highlight that the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden.

History

Historically, the date is based on date of the 1960 assassination of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic; the killings were ordered by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930–1961). In 1981, activists marked November 25 as a day to combat and raise awareness of violence against women more broadly; on December 17, 1999, the date received its official United Nations (UN) resolution.

The UN and the Inter-Parliamentary Union have encouraged governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities to support the day as an international observance. For example, the UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) observes the day each year and offers suggestions for other organizations to observe it.^{[citation needed]}

In his message on the day in 2012, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated:

Millions of women and girls around the world are assaulted, beaten, raped, mutilated or even murdered in what constitutes appalling violations of their human rights. [...] We must fundamentally challenge the culture of discrimination that allows violence to continue. On this International Day, I call on all governments to make good on their pledges to end all forms of violence against women and girls in all parts of the world, and I urge all people to support this important goal.

Data on violence against women

Australia

A March 2013 article on "The Conversation" online media outlet featured an article entitled "Ending violence against women is good for everyone" in relation to the observance of International Women's Day on that year. The article claimed that, while a general Australian belief exists that violence against Australian women is less severe in comparison to other nations, the Australian Bureau of Statistics had revealed in a report that "one in three Australian women will experience physical violence in their lifetime, while 23% to 28% will experience sexual or emotional harm." The statistics were taken from a report, published in 2005 (reissue), entitled "Personal Safety Survey Australia".

The Conversation article by Linda Murray and Lesley Pruitt then provided further Australia-specific data: "Violence is the leading cause of death, illness and disability for Australian women aged 15 to 44. It’s responsible for more illness and premature death than any other preventable cause, such as hypertension, obesity, or smoking." The article refers to the The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 that was published by the Australian government in September 2012—the foreword of the Plan states:

The National Plan sets out a framework for action over the next 12 years. This plan shows Australia’s commitments to upholding the human rights of Australian women through the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Declaration to End Violence Against Women and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Human Rights Day

The date of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women also marks the start of the "16 Days of Activism" that precedes Human Rights Day on December 10 each year.

See also

• National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on December 6 in Canada.
• Stop Violence Against Women, a campaign of Amnesty International
• Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women

External links

• UN publications relating to violence against women, at the UN's Dag Hammarskjöld Library.
• International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
• BBC News - UN unveils Network of Men to fight abuse of women.