Let’s Act and Unite is the message of 3rd World Conference of Women’s Shelters The Hague, 6 November 2015
The 3rd World Conference of Women’s Shelters was held 3rd-6th November 2015 in The Hague, The Netherlands.
With 1,000 participants from 115 countries and inspiring keynote speakers as Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Hina Jilani, Dr. Mugweke and Ashley Judd it was a fruitful meeting with an ambitious outcome.
All attendees from advocates and activists to care workers in the field are ready to put an end to violence against women and children. “Let’s do this together! Let’s Unite, Connect and Act to reach the all-important goal and end violence against women!” This was the outcome of four days of intensive working and talking together, while building bridges and strengthening bonds.
At the conference, over 1,000 visitors from over 100 countries shared knowledge and translated agreements into targeted actions. The conference sent out a pledge to all people to think about how we can contribute – as individuals, as communities, as governments, as businesses, as religious institutions.
Violence against women has a profound effect on the victims themselves, but it affects families and communities also, resulting in enormous social, economic and productivity costs. It really is a matter that touches us all. Special attention was paid to the vulnerable position of women and girls in armed conflict. It is of the utmost importance to protect women and girls from rape as weapon of war.
In the Call to Action handed by the chair Bandana Rana to Martin van Rijn, State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sports, the Global Network of Women’s Shelters calls upon all sectors of society and all people – men, women, boys, girls – to actively step up.
This could range from actively penalizing child marriages by governments to taking a stand against sexual harassment at the workplace by businesses. Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation and has been proclaimed a top priority of the United Nation’s, which is endorsed at the highest level by Secretary–General Ban Ki-moon.
The UN aims at gender equality by 2030. An ambitious plan, but as far as all attendees of the 3rd World Conference of Women’s Shelters are concerned, it is as realistic as it is necessary. At the moment still one in every three women faces violence because of their gender at least once in their lives.
You can watch the highlights of the 3rd world conference of women’s shelters here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T14di-qaCIU
