On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November), global leaders endorsed the powerful steps being taken by the Action Coalition on Gender-based Violence to inspire action across all sectors and ignite lasting change.
The Action Coalition on Gender-based Violence, launched as part of the unprecedented USD 40 billion in commitments for gender equality at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in July, is driving global efforts to eradicate violence against women and girls through its Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality.
Action Coalition Leaders and Commitment Makers underscored the importance of sustaining the momentum of Generation Equality throughout the 16 Days of Activism, calling on organizations to join them in their 5-year action journey by becoming a commitment maker or by joining one of the coalition’s powerful collective commitments.
Collective commitments are backed by several actors for enhanced impact. The emergent collective commitments on Gender-based Violence include to scale up evidence-driven prevention of gender-based violence in at least 25 countries and to advocate for USD $500 million increased direct investment in practice informed programs and policies by 2026. Explore them in full here.
In line with this year’s UNiTE campaign, “Orange the World: End Violence Against Women Now!”, the virtual commemoration event spotlighted the universal nature of violence against women and girls, which is the most pervasive violation of human rights globally, and the challenges and additional risks related to COVID-19, humanitarian crises and violence conflicts.
“Our experience has shown us that violence against women and girls is preventable”, UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous, reminded attendees. “The success stories we hear today will showcase some of the transformative work being done to reduce violence, change social norms, and empower women and girls across the world”, Bahous added. The event highlighted solutions including evidence-driven programming, which has proven results in reducing gender-based violence against women and girls, demonstrating that transformative change is possible.
To this end, the Action Coalition on Gender-based Violence, which UN Women has stepped up to co-lead, is working with an array of actors - women’s movements, feminist, youth and girl-led organizations, governments, faith-based institutions, private sector, international organizations, and more - to prevent violence against women and inspire, scale-up, and increase investments in proven solutions.
Transformative change by 2026
The Action Coalition Leaders and Commitment Makers on Gender-based Violence are united behind their ambitious 5-year action plan. Their aim is to ensure that in 5-years’ time, 550 million more women and girls live in countries with laws and policies prohibiting all forms of gender-based violence, 100 countries have built law enforcement capacity to address gender-based violence, and 55 more countries have outlawed child marriage.
To realize this vision, diverse actors have made concrete financial, policy and programmatic commitments. Hear directly from some of the Action Coalition Leaders and Commitment Makers on the steps they are taking to end violence against women now:
Taking action
“We have evidence showing that violence is not inevitable… and together, we have the opportunity and the obligation to use this evidence to spur on global action. That's why we're investing GBP 67.5 million in the successor programme to scale up proven approaches and pioneer new solutions to prevent violence in conflict and for the most marginalized women and girls,” explained Vicky Ford, Minister for Africa at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
“We are currently advocating for a strong proposal by the European Commission to tackle all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls in the EU. We also aim to promote the indispensable rights of women’s rights organizations, especially in the COVID-19 health crisis. This means more funding and support for their work,” said Reka Safrany, President of the European Women’s Lobby.
“The Kering Foundation has committed USD 8.4 million to supporting survivors over the next five years. We will scale up holistic care for women survivors by financing, alongside the French Government, the opening of 15 centres in France. With the ‘1 in 3 Women Network’, we will bring on board 50 private sector organizations to implement internal policies to combat violence against women,” outlined Marie Claire Daveu, Chief Sustainability and Institutional Affairs Officer at the Kering Foundation.
Join the Movement
Explore the list of Action Coalition Commitment Makers here and find out how your organization can join them by becoming a Commitment Maker here.