United Nations - The UN secretary-general and the head of a new UN agency on gender equality urged international donors and the business community on Tuesday to contribute $100-million a year to combat a global pandemic of violence against women.
Ban Ki-moon and former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, whom he selected in September to head UN Women, called for corporate leadership in ending gender-based violence at the UN commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
According to Bachelet, up to 70 percent of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime, “the majority from someone they already know.” Such abuse not only violates women's human rights and undercuts broader efforts to achieve gender equality but also is costly to business in lost work time and earnings, she said.
“This issue cannot be resolved without adequate resources,” Bachelet said.
The UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women has financed 317 programs in 124 countries since 1996, at a total cost of $60-million.
Major funding has come from Spain, the United States, the Netherlands, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and Norway, but the trust fund has received just $23-million in pledges and funds for 2010 - drastically short of the demand for money to finance projects to halt gender violence, according to the UN.
Ban launched a campaign in 2008 called UNiTE to End Violence against Women, setting a target of $100-million annually for the Trust Fund by 2015, including through private sector contributions.
Bachelet said the international community and the corporate sector can demonstrate its commitment to the cause with contributions to the Trust fund to create a “substantial and reliable source of funding”.
The secretary-general said at Tuesday's observance - two days before the actual International Day on November 25 - that “there has been real progress” with people across the world mobilising to stop the abuse of women and girls.
“Today is a call to action,” Ban said. “More and more people realise that gender-based violence is everybody's problem, and that everybody is responsible for stopping it.” - AP