Beyond Violence - A Time to Talk - 25th November

25th November

A Time to Talk

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Join our forthcoming Virtual '24 hr Forum' and bring your friends along.

This forum will be separate to the WFAC community, so participation will extend beyond community members.

We ecourage you to bring together a group of friends, in your home or in a cafe with internet connection, and join the forum as a group if you wish, taking turns to participate.

The forums will be held on November 25th, throughout the day, whatever time zone you are in.

Details to follow shortly.

Meanwhile, did you know ...................

In the UK:

• 74% of men would report a dog being beaten to an animal charity or police, but only 53% would report domestic violence to the police.

• On average, a woman is assaulted 35 times before her first call to the police (Jaffe 1982)

• One woman in nine is severely beaten by her male partner each year (Stanko et al, 1998)

• A Home Office report from 2002 found domestic violence to have a higher rate of repeat victimisation than any other crime

• 'Current partners' were responsible for 45% of rapes reported to the British Crime Survey.

Globally:

At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. (according to a study based on 50 surveys from throughout the world).

More than 60 million women are "missing" from the world today as a result of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide (according to an estimate by Amartya Sen, the Nobel Laureate).

Up to 70% of female murder victims are killed by their male partners (World Health Organisation)

In the USA:

Women accounted for 85% of the victims of domestic violence in 1999 (671,110 compared to 120,100 men),
(according to the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women).

Russia:

The Russian Government estimates that 14,000 women were killed by their partners or relatives in 1999, yet the country still has no law specifically addressing domestic violence.
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By resolution 54/134 of 17 December 1999, the General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on that day.

Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981.
This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

Ref: http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/violence/