UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, Friday, that “every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed by her partner or a member of her family.”
This came in his message on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which falls on November 25 of each year (today).
Guterres added, in his message published on the United Nations website, that “the pressures of the Corona pandemic and economic turmoil inevitably lead to more physical and verbal abuse” against women.
“Women and girls also face rampant online violence, from misogynistic hate speech to sexual harassment, image misuse and grooming by scammers,” he added.
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Guterres added, “Every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed by an intimate partner or family member.”
“Targeting half of humanity with discrimination, violence and abuse comes at a huge cost. It limits the participation of women and girls in all walks of life, denies their basic rights and freedoms and impedes the equal economic recovery and sustainable growth our world needs.”
He stressed that “the time has come for changeful action that ends violence against women and girls,” stressing that “governments must design, finance and implement national action plans to confront this scourge.”
Guterres called on governments to “increase funding by 50 percent for women’s rights organizations and movements by 2026.”
He noted the importance of “engaging grassroots groups and civil society at every stage of decision-making, and supporting public campaigns that challenge patriarchal norms and reject misogyny and violence.”
On November 25 of each year, an international campaign is launched under the name “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence”, and it continues until December 10, which coincides with International Human Rights Day.
This year’s campaign was launched under the slogan “Unite! Struggle to End Violence against Women and Girls”, which calls on governments and partners to show their solidarity with women’s rights movements and activists, and calls on everyone to end violence against women once and for all.
