Her Majesty Queen Máxima will make a speech on Wednesday 4 November at the 3rd World Conference of Women’s Shelters at the World Forum in The Hague. The conference is a platform for sharing experiences and ideas with the ultimate objective of achieving an international approach to the prevention of violence against women and children.
After the plenary session, Queen Máxima will attend part of the ‘Effective social and economic reintegration of women survivors’ workshop. The main theme on the morning of 4 November is economic independence, the basis on which women faced with domestic violence can build a new and independent life. Other issues to be discussed at the conference include sustainable financing, cooperation in international organisations, such as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO), expanding and strengthening the international network, putting violence against women on the agenda worldwide and creating legislation.
Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark will also attend the conference on Wednesday. Through The Mary Foundation she works to help women and children who are victims of violence. The foundation is organising two conference workshops, and Crown Princess Mary will speak on Thursday 5 November.
In total around a thousand people from over a hundred countries will take part in the conference in The Hague. Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker will open the conference on Tuesday 3 November. Also State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport Martin van Rijn will attend part of the four-day conference, which is being held from 3 to 6 November.
Previous editions of the conference were held in Alberta, Canada in 2008 and in Washington DC in 2012. The conference in The Hague is being organised by the Foundation of Women’s Shelters in the Netherlands and other partners at the request of the Global Network of Women’s Shelters (GNWS).
