Orange the world: end violence against women

Violence against women and girls is not inevitable.

Prevention is the theme of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence this year and the focus of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign’s call for action.

Violence against women is a human rights violation.

Violence against women is a consequence of discrimination against women, in law and also in practice, and of persisting inequalities between men and women.

Violence against women impacts on, and impedes, progress in many areas, including poverty eradication, combating HIV/AIDS, and peace and security.

Violence against women and girls is not inevitable. Prevention is possible and essential.

But violence against women continues to be a global pandemic.

From parades to soccer matches, school debates, and the lighting up of hundreds of iconic monuments, starting on 25 November a United Nations call to “Orange the World” aims to galvanise global action calling for an end to violence against women and girls, violence which affects one in three worldwide.

Unifying the large-scale social mobilisation and global events will be the use of the colour orange, which has come to symbolise a bright and optimistic future free from violence against women and girls.

The call to action is part of the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, led by UN Women.

It will be carried out during the civil society-driven 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which run from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

This year’s ‘Orange the World” initiative will focus on the theme of preventing violence against women and girls, in the specific context of the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which includes targets on ending violence against women and girls.

Coinciding with the 16 days of Activism, UN Women’s executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will undertake visits to three continents, highlighting the urgent need for efforts to address the pandemic of violence at all levels – from global to the local – as well as all sections of society, during high-profile events in Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Spain and Turkey.

The official commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November, which takes place in New York, will also see the launch of a landmark “UN Framework to Underpin Action to Prevent Violence against Women,” jointly developed by a number of UN entities including UN Women, ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA and WHO.

“Violence against women and girls remains one of the most serious – and the most tolerated – human rights violations,”  Mlambo-Ngcuka, who is the UN’s Under-Secretary-General as well as UN Women’s executive director, said.

“It is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality and discrimination.

“Its continued presence is one of the clearest markers of societies out of balance and we are determined to change that.”

“The focus must now be on prevention, and although there is no single solution to such a complex problem, there is growing evidence of the range of actions that can stop violence before it happens.

“This comprehensive approach forms the core of the new framework developed by UN Women and our partner agencies.”

There has been some progress over the last few decades; today 125 countries have laws against sexual harassment and 119 against domestic violence, but only 52 countries on marital rape.

Despite efforts, violence against women and girls continues in every country, with women being beaten in their homes, harassed on the streets and bullied on the Internet.

Preventing and ending violence means tackling its root cause, gender inequality.

In 2014, the WHO called it a ‘global epidemic’ and a public health crisis, given its impact on one in three women experiencing physical or sexual violence at some point in her life – mostly by an intimate partner, and sometimes rising to affect a staggering 70 per cent of women in certain countries.

And among all women who were the victims of homicide in 2012, nearly half died at the hands of a partner or family member.

An estimated 133 million girls and women have experienced some form of female genital mutilation/cutting.

Adult women account for almost half of all human trafficking victims detected globally.

With the recent adoption by world leaders of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a bold new global development agenda in September 2015, a critical juncture was reached in global recognition that violence against women and girls is a serious but preventable problem.

The gender equality goal, Goal 5 of the SDGs, aims to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls.

It recognises violence against women as an obstacle to fully achieving the development agenda and will provide comprehensive indicators on what we should do to address that goal.

It focuses also on the provision of services to address sexual and reproductive rights.

At the historic Global Leaders’ Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment event on 27 September 2015, many of the 70 world leaders who took the stage named ending violence against women and girls as a priority for action, demonstrating not only the size and universality of the problem, but also the recognition of heads of government or heads of state of this pandemic of violence being a major obstacle to fully achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign invites you to “Orange the world,” using orange, the colour designated by the UNiTE campaign, to symbolise a brighter future without violence.

Organise events to orange streets, schools and landmarks! read the Toolkit; see the poster.

Join the conversation on social media: follow @SayNO_UNiTE and share your messages using the hashtags #orangetheworld and #16days