International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Yesterday, we celebrated the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The day was an occasion to raise awareness about the cases of rape, domestic violence and other types of violence that women around the world are subjected to.

Here are some striking statistics on the matter:

At least one third of the women in the world have suffered from physical and/or sexual violence at one point in their lives.

Half the murdered women were assassinated by a partner or a family member in 2017. This ratio was at one in 20 among men.

Women and girls represented 71 percent of worldwide human trafficking. Three quarters of these victims have been sexually exploited.

These shocking numbers show how far away we are from ensuring access to fundamental rights for women and girls.

That is why we joined Mirabal Belgium’s nationwide protest in Brussels on Sunday, 24 November 2019 to show our solidarity with all civil society actors standing up to violence against women.

During the march, we also shared with other participants the striking stories of Turkish women who have been systematically targeted by state violence, such as the women who have been imprisoned after the sixth month of their pregnancy and after giving birth and the female activists who have been the target of police brutality during their peaceful protests.

We also told the story of Halime Gülsu, a jailed teacher who lost her life in a Turkish jail after being denied medical treatment for her rare immune system disease.

As Solidarity with Others we are committed to speaking up against all forms of violence against women and fighting to achieve a full gender equality.