The United Nations Women’s Commission annual session kicked off yesterday  with a call to end Gender Based Violence .

The talks kicked off with discussions focused on  eliminating violence against women and girls, a global scourge that affects millions around the world.

“Ending violence against women is a matter of life and death,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the opening of the two-week session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York. “The problem pervades all countries, even in the most stable and developed regions.”

Mr. Eliasson stressed that it will take multiple approaches to tackle this issue, from governments implementing policies to empower victims and prosecute perpetrators, to creating a culture where gender stereotypes are broken by encouraging men and boys to take an equal share of responsibilities in their home and families.

“Violence against women pervades war zones as well as stable communities, capitals as well as the countryside, public space as well as the private sphere,” Mr. Eliasson said. “Since it is an unacceptable feature of daily life, we have to respond everywhere and on every level.”

The Chair of the Commission, Ambassador Marjon V. Kamara of Liberia, said that during its two-week session, the Commission would examine ways for more effectively preventing violence against women and girls and ensure that action is taken on the ground to create real change in women’s lives.

“We have assembled here with a clear mandate: to create a world where gender equality is never in question and discrimination and violence against women and girls are a thing of the past,” she said.

By UP