Visionary girls leaders from throughout the Commonwealth got here collectively in London yesterday to decide to safeguarding girls and women from home and sexual violence.
Underneath this dedication, girls leaders from totally different professions will coordinate actions for people, households and communities to guard girls and women, together with in hard-to-reach areas throughout the 56 Commonwealth international locations.
This collective effort will contribute to the gender equality mandates from the 2023 Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting and the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The occasion, convened by the Commonwealth Secretary-Normal Patricia Scotland on 15 November, was attended by Her Majesty The Queen and greater than 100 representatives from authorities, enterprise, educational and civil society.
‘Collectively, we are able to’
Opening the occasion, the Commonwealth Secretary-Normal known as on girls leaders to work collectively to assist eradicate the silent pandemic of home and sexual violence.
She mentioned:
“The widespread prevalence of home and sexual abuse, which impacts one in three girls of their lifetimes, and the pernicious impression on survivors, households, communities and economies are a relentless reminder that motion is urgently required.
“For much too lengthy and much too usually, we’re informed it’s not possible to finish this… However, at the moment, we reject that notion and say NO MORE as a result of collectively, we are able to.”
“We’ve invited you,” the Secretary-Normal continued, “to look at what we are able to do collectively and set up a brand new dedication”, including: “In order that we might lastly ship a world through which no lady fears the footsteps behind her, and the place no baby cowers within the shadows of abuse.”
Audio system, representing governments, the non-public sector and civil society organisations, examined three core areas in panel discussions: the function of advocacy; the impression of home violence on the psychological well being of girls and kids; and the assist for the survivors and their households.
Commonwealth first girls Fatima Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, Fatoumatta Bah-Barrow of The Gambia, and Maryam Mwinyi of Zanzibar, mentioned alarming statistics which laid naked the plight of the hundreds of thousands of girls and women who’re abused, remoted and even killed of their houses.
‘Palms off our women’
“The statistics are horrible,” the First Woman of Sierra Leone mentioned, including: “They continually remind us of the mammoth job forward. However collectively, we are able to, and we should finish this violence.”
Underscoring the ability of advocacy, she spoke about her ‘Hands Off Our Girls’ marketing campaign, which pushes for focused measures for the safety of girls and women in Sierra Leone. On account of her advocacy, the minimal sentencing for rape in Sierra Leone has been elevated from 4 months to fifteen years.
Throughout the discussions, audio system outlined particular measures, similar to early childhood schooling to dismantle dangerous cultural norms, one-stop centres to supply non-judgemental well being, authorized and counselling assist, campaigns to have interaction males, and laws to enshrine equality underneath the regulation to assist carry an finish to the violence.
The 2023 Commonwealth Younger Particular person of the Yr, Maya Kirti Nanan, drew consideration to the elevated vulnerability of individuals with disabilities to violence, urging governments to recognise and tackle their distinctive safeguarding wants.
Umutoni Gatsinzi Nadine, Chief Gender Monitor at Rwanda’s Gender Monitoring Workplace, shared her nation’s profitable interventions, together with one-stop centres providing free companies and cellular clinics reaching distant communities.
Via these efforts, she mentioned, Rwanda has elevated the conviction charge for violence in opposition to girls and women from about 13 per cent to 70 per cent.
Her Majesty The Queen
Later within the day, Her Majesty The Queen joined to obtain a report on the occasion’s outcomes from the Commonwealth Secretary-Normal, audio system and dialogue moderators.
Closing the occasion, the Secretary-Normal thanked The Queen for her assist and requested attendees to commit at the least one motion to enhance the well-being of girls and women.
Different audio system on the occasion included: Amina Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-Normal; Saima Wazed, Chairperson of Shuchona Basis and Advisor to the World Well being Group (WHO) on Psychological Well being and Autism; Jane Randel, Chair of the NO MORE Basis; Jude Kelly CBE, Founder and Chair, WOW Basis; Sarah Brown, Chair of Theirworld charity and Govt Chair of World Enterprise Coalition for Schooling; and representatives from the WHO and world well being organisation, PATH.
In her remarks, Jane Randel knowledgeable attendees concerning the Commonwealth Says NO MORE marketing campaign, including that it gives easy-to-use instruments to people, communities and governments to carry down circumstances of home and sexual violence.
Increasing on Jane’s insights, video messages from the NO MORE Basis’s chapters in Cameroon and Cyprus showcased profitable interventions to have an effect on constructive change on the grassroots stage, together with by way of the engagement with the non-public sector.
The suggestions from the occasion will information the work being undertaken by way of the Commonwealth Says NO MORE marketing campaign.
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