Redouble efforts to get rid of gender-based violence: UN chief
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged all to redouble their attempts to eliminate gender-based violence forever.
"Upon this international day, let us redouble our work," he said found in a note on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Females on Wednesday.
Guterres said violence against girls and young ladies is a worldwide human rights challenge.
The COVID-19 pandemic has even more exposed this matter as a global emergency requiring urgent action at all levels, in every spaces and by everyone, said the UN chief.
He said the community and financial fallout from the pandemic is disproportionately pressing women and young girls into poverty, and the risk of violence against them is soaring.
In April this year, the UN chief urged the intercontinental community to work to get rid of the shadow pandemic of gender-based violence forever. "I reiterate and relaunch that charm today."
He said the global network needs to hear the voices and experiences of women and women and take into account their necessities, especially survivors and the ones who deal with multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
"We must as well prioritise women's leadership to find solutions and engage men in the struggle," Guterres said.
He said action must involve predictable and flexible financing for women's rights organisations, who frequently act as first responders during crises.
"It is important that solutions for survivors of violence remain open, with enough resources and measures found in location to support health, social and justice responses," said the UN chief.
These measures shouldn't only focus on intervening once violence against women has occurred, he said.
They should work to avoid violence occurring to begin with, including through addressing social norms and power imbalances, and police and judicial devices have to increase accountability for perpetrators and end impunity, reports UNB.
