Canada is joining a global campaign to end violence against women as the world marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women today.
“As long as women and girls fear for their safety, they cannot reach their full potential,” Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau, said in a joint statement. “In the absence of violence, women and girls are healthier, are more educated, earn higher wages and are more able to contribute meaningfully to their communities and families.”
Canada believes that empowered women and girls are key to creating peaceful, prosperous and inclusive societies, the statement says.
“Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, public health pandemic and serious obstacle to sustainable development,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “It imposes large-scale costs on families, communities and economies. The world cannot afford to pay this price.”
Enormous economic cost
According to statistics released by UN Women the cost of violence against women is equal to a $1.5-trillion loss in global gross domestic product—roughly the size of Canada’s economy.
“The statistics almost defy belief,” Ban Ki-moon told a UN Women-hosted Orange the World event at UN Headquarters in New York earlier this week. “What is even harder to understand is why: why men prey on women and girls; why societies shame the victims, why governments fail to punish deadly crimes, why the world denies itself the fruits of women’s full participation.”
16 days of activism
The event at the UN Headquarters also kicked off a campaign http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/take-action/16-days-of-activism to raise money to end violence against women and girls, and kick off 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence.
The campaign begins today and and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day, Ban Ki-moon said.
“We are working with experienced Canadian, local and international partners to meet the medical, psychosocial and legal needs of sexual and gender-based violence survivors in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Pakistan, Iraq and Syria,” the statement by Dion and Bibeau said.
“Together, we can do our part to create a safer and more peaceful world for all women and girls. On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we encourage all Canadians to support the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign.”
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