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Message
on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Kofi A. Annan, Secretary General - United Nations
November 17, 2006
Violence against women causes untold misery, harms families across
generations, and impoverishes communities. It stops women from fulfilling
their potential, restricts economic growth, and undermines development.
When it comes to violence against women, there are no civilized societies.
Last month,
I issued an in-depth study which showed that half of humankind lives
under this threat -- in every continent, country and culture, regardless
of income, class, race or ethnicity. This is so, even though we
live in a world order where human rights have been recognized in
law, and guaranteed in international instruments; even though we
have learnt that the enjoyment of human rights is essential to the
well-being of the individual, the community and the world; even
though, at the 2005 World Summit, leaders pledged to redouble efforts
to eliminate all forms of violence against women.
Fighting this
scourge requires us to change a mindset which is still too common
and deep-seated. To demonstrate, once and for all, that when it
comes to violence against women, there are no grounds for tolerance
and no tolerable excuses.
For years, women’s
organizations and movements round the world have worked tirelessly
to take violence against women out of the private domain and into
the public sphere -- into the arena of State accountability. Many
States have enacted and implemented effective laws, and provided
comprehensive and gender-sensitive services to victims. And there
has also been progress in creating international standards.
It is time to
take these efforts to the next level. We in the United Nations must
play a stronger, better coordinated and more visible leadership
role. Member States must do more to implement the international
legal and policy framework to which they have committed themselves.
And all of us must form strong and effective partnerships with civil
society, which has such a crucial role to play on this issue at
every level.
Together, we
must work to create an environment where violence against women
is not tolerated. By mandating me to undertake the in-depth study,
UN Member States have signalled that they are ready to do that.
Now, with the study and its recommendations in hand, we must summon
the necessary political commitment and resources. On this International
Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, let all of us
-- men and women alike -- join forces in this mission.
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