No Excuse.
Violence against women and girls remains the most pervasive human rights violation around the world. Some 736 million women — almost one in three — have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their lives. More than four in five women and girls (86 per cent) are living in countries without robust legal protection, or in countries for which data are not readily available. No country is within reach of eradicating intimate partner violence and only a quarter of countries have systems to track and make budgetary allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Despite the scale of the problem and these worrying trends, financial commitments to violence prevention remain limited. Few national governments have funded transformative gender-based violence prevention policies or committed significant budget allocations toward ending violence against women. Investing in preventing violence against women and girls is crucial to achieving gender equality by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. This year´s 16 Days campaign calls upon all UNITE networks, civil society and women’s rights organizations, organizations working with men and boys, the UN system, the Generation Equality Action Coalitions, government partners, human rights defenders, schools, universities, private sector, sports clubs and associations and individuals to step up and support different prevention strategies to stop violence from occurring in the first place. Every effort invested in preventing violence against women is a step towards a safer, more equal, and prosperous world.
