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Women, led by Yoo
Soon-taek, wife of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
and actresses Susan
Sarandon and Monique Coleman, march outside the U.N.
general assembly
building to mark International Women's Day.
Photo by: Mark Garten
/ U.N.
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In a historic move, 131 U.N. member states have
joined hands with cross-sector groups to thwart violence against all women and
girls.
The agreement was sealed at the 57th session of the Commission on the
Status of Women held recently in New York, United States, after over
two weeks of close negotiations between participants.
Thousands of representatives from
member states, U.N. partners, civil society, international governmental
organizations and the private sector came together to produce an outcome
document summarizing the global plan to prevent and eliminate all forms of
violence against women and girls.
According to information
from the U.N. Entity
for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the plan calls for
“increased attention and accelerated action for prevention and response.”
U.N. Women has detailed the important
focus the plan gives to the prevention of violence, chiefly through providing
education, raising awareness and addressing gender inequalities in the social,
economic and political realms.
The plan prioritizes the protection of
sexual and reproductive health rights, as well as the creation of multisectoral
services for survivors of violence, it said. These services include those for
health, and psychological support and counseling.
The plan also underscores the need for
punishing perpetrators, and enhancing the means of collecting evidence and
responding to victims.
“We will work with member states to
turn the agreed conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women into
concrete results for women and girls,” said U.N. Women in
a statement.
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