By Our Reporter

The Speaker of Parliament on Tuesday chaired an Inter Parliamentary Union meeting to set strategies to put an end to violence against women and the girl child.

Ms Kadaga who, on Monday, called for an end to gender based violence asked delegates from all IPU member states to start being proactive and involve themselves in initiatives to end violence against the female species.

“This is an opportunity for us to put an end to the violence mated against woman and the girl child and we should use it to agree on strategies to stop the vice,” she said.

The IPU President, Mr. Abdelwahad RADI, who is also a former Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives, said that the meeting, which was the 10th, was an opportunity for member states to make their contribution (to the protection of women) and make their voices to be heard.

“The subject we are tackling today is dear to me and I am very proud to say that the IPU is doing a huge contribution to end violence against women,” he said.

“Laws can transform the lives of women if they are comprehensive.  I am convinced, and international studies have shown, that the passage and implementation of laws against gender based violence helps to end the maltreatment.”

Naming rape, female genital mutilation and domestic violence as the main vices, Mr Abdelwahad said that such forms of discrimination exists everywhere and that it is a serious matter and the member states can’t neglect.

“Violence against women requires us to fight against it in a clear manner,” he said.

The Executive Director of UN Women, Ms Michelle Bachelet asked the women legislators to intensify the fight against gender based violence. “We find ourselves at a tipping point of women. Never before have we had such pressure to end violence against women. Never before have we ever experienced this level of call for action against women violence. We are at a tipping point of a deep gender transformation,” she said.

She added: “Violence against women is no longer acceptable. There’s no point of us to keep condemning the act of young women being raped, we need to act and we need to act now.  A law is potent only if it has financial muscle. If that’s not the case, the reality will be that nothing happens.  For a law to be effective, it has to have financial backing. “