We should use new global model to tackle violence against women
An awareness creation campaign against gender-based violence (GBV) in Nyeri Town on June 28, 2021. Instances of GBV have gone up in the last year since the Covid-19 outbreak.
The pervasiveness of violence against women and girls has led to acquiescence that it is somehow inevitable or impossible to end.
Over the last year, the Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls has delivered notable results in 25 countries.
As the world grapples unevenly with the effects of Covid-19, a parallel and equally horrific pandemic has threatened half the world’s population. In the early months of the pandemic, the United Nations projected that quarantines and lockdowns could lead to a shocking 15 million additional cases of gender-based violence every three months. Sadly, those predictions appear to be coming true.
This week, beginning today, world leaders and others will gather at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris and online in a massive push for gender equality. At that meeting, I will call on states, companies and individuals to join in a global initiative, with proven results, to end the fear and insecurity that threaten the health, rights, dignity and lives of so many women and girls.
