Friday, March 6, 2009

UN Decries Violence Against Women

The UN says at least one in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime and one in five women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape.Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, urged world leaders on Thursday to end violence against women in their countries, in a speech on the eve of International Women's Day.He called on leaders and people around the world to address what he said was a "crime against humanity".

"Violence against women is an abomination. It cannot be tolerated, in any form, in any context, in any circumstances, by any political leader or by any government," Ban told ministers from over 50 countries attending the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women, which began on March 2.

Ban recalled a young woman he met on his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who was "brutally and violently abused by four soldiers at gunpoint" in eastern Congo while fleeing fighting that destroyed her village. "She is now at the Heal Africa hospital in Goma, suffering not only from her physical injuries but from being ostracised by her village and family from a false sense of shame", he said.

Read More At Al Jazeera

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