Ending violence against women and girls

Scaled-up action to end violence against women in Fiji, including the first national protocol to respond to cases, has emerged from the response to a natural disaster. Women market vendors show their support by decorating their stalls in orange, symbolizing a brighter future without violence, and wearing the colour too. Photo: UN Women/Ellie van Baaren.

Realizing the 2030 Agenda ambitions of achieving peaceful societies and safe, sustainable cities as well as eradicating poverty depends on ending violence against women, the world’s most pervasive human rights violation. In its worst forms, violence deprives women of their lives. It undercuts their ability to work, to gain an education, and to enjoy health and well-being, among other human rights. Ending violence requires laws and services geared towards protection and the provision of support to survivors. Prevention of violence by addressing its root causes is equally important. And people from all walks of life, men and women, must mobilize to say no to violence.

UN Women’s work described below illustrates contributions especially to the Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality, peaceful and inclusive societies, and safe cities.

Market vendors at Tavua market in Fiji showed their support for ending violence against women and girls by decorating their stalls in orange and wearing orange. Photo: UN Women/Ellie van Baaren

Supporting recovery through services

In Fiji, a national service delivery referral system for cases of gender-based violence had long been discussed, but it took the response to a natural disaster to push forward its development. Supported by UN Women, the Fiji Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation developed the first fully fledged national protocol for responding to cases of gender-based violence. It outlines guiding principles, and describes the roles and responsibilities of health, social services, police, shelter and legal justice service providers. The protocol aligns with the global essential services package jointly developed by UN Women and four other UN entities.

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countries strengthened
legislation to address
violence against women and girls

countries adopted
national plans or strategies
in this area

More than

2.4

million practitioners
accessed expert knowledge
at endVAWnow.org

Students at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh are part of a surge of young activists calling to free campuses from violence against women and girls. Photo: UN Women/Mahtabul Hakim

Committing to safer campuses

With the world’s largest ever generation of youth, universities can make a critical contribution to ending violence against women, now and for the future. In Bangladesh, UN Women worked with four universities to establish and expand on-campus mechanisms to prevent violence and support survivors, guided by a series of standard operating procedures. Sexual harassment prevention committees now manage dedicated telephone hotlines, among other forms of assistance, and have clearly defined procedures for investigations, as well as referrals to university authorities and law enforcement.

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UN Women is a powerful voice for women and girls at the global, regional and local levels. To achieve gender equality and empower women and girls, we must invest in programs that put women’s rights and interests at the forefront of every conversation.

Sonja Hönig Schough, President of Zonta International and Zonta International Foundation

Understanding the costs of violence against women

Calculating the cost of response

Responses to gender-based violence are often hindered because required services and costs are poorly understood. To fill information gaps in Asia, UN Women supported a series of landmark studies that calculated the cost of providing all essential services to women experiencing violence, such as counselling, health care, police and judicial responses, shelter and emergency assistance.

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Flyer of the UN Women-supported campaign for a law offering comprehensive protections from all forms of violence against women in Paraguay. The law, known as Ley #Por ellas, was passed in 2016.

Ensuring legal protection

In every country, a fundamental step is to make gender-based violence illegal. In 2016, for the first time in its history, Paraguay adopted legislation offering comprehensive protections from all forms of violence against women. UN Women advocated the move and provided expertise to fully align the statute with international human rights norms. Civil society mobilization and information campaigns built a groundswell of public support that convinced legislators to finally vote “yes” on the historic bill.

FROM WHERE I STAND

Photo: UN Women/Coumba Bah

SDG 5: Gender equality Assétou Touré is a 49-year-old woman from Mali and a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation. She has devoted her life to battling the harmful practice. Since 2011, UN Women has been aiding such efforts. Touré’s work in Kita echoes the objective of the SDGs, which seek to achieve gender equality, and one of the specific targets of SDG 5, to eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation.

FROM WHERE I STAND

Assétou Touré: “We have a duty to act and to ensure that every girl is able to live a dignified and fulfilled life”

“I was 6 years old when I was cut. But for me, the most traumatic experience was seeing what my older sister went through. She wasn’t as lucky as I. She suffered terrible injuries and almost died. The scars will remain with us for life. Where we live, more than 80 per cent of girls go under the knife.

Some 20 years ago, I decided I wanted to become a leader and educator and devote my energy to combating gender-based violence. My first battle was to save my own girls. I have four daughters, aged between 19 and 27, and not one has been cut. It wasn’t easy for my husband, but he listened to my arguments. My first-hand experience and other testimonies convinced him.

We have a duty to act and to ensure that every girl is able to live a dignified and fulfilled life. I love my job. I have no shame or fear. My role is to save lives and to protect people’s dignity. I’ve saved thousands of lives by asking women and men to sign agreements and to take formal oaths. In doing so, they agree not to engage in female genital mutilation (FGM) themselves, and not to stand back and allow it to happen to others. On average, I secure at least 100 new signatures each month. I’ve also managed to persuade two leading cutters in Kita, which has one of the highest rates of FGM in Mali, to stop performing female genital mutilation.”