Context:

Gender-based violence constitutes one of the most pervasive human rights breaches on a global scale, affecting women and girls everywhere and at all stages of life. Almost 30 years after the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted, member states have put in place laws, policies and services and made multiple commitments to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls. Despite this progress, levels of violence against women have remained persistent with an estimated 736 million women globally – almost one in three - subjected to physical and/or sexual violence throughout their lifetime.[1]  Global emergencies, crises, and conflict have intensified the drivers and risk factors of violence against women and girls. Digitalization has also exacerbated existing forms of violence and led to the surge of new types of gender-based violence. The costs of this violence is not only great for those that suffer it, but it also extends to families, communities and entire societies.

Accordingly, the UNiTE campaign was launched in 2008, under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General, to galvanise and advance efforts to put an end to these harms once and for all by eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030. Most recently, the UNiTE campaign called upon governments, UN agencies, philanthropists, the private sector and development actors to Invest to prevent violence against women and girls focusing on the importance of global, regional and national investment in measures that aim to prevent violence from occurring in the first place. Under the umbrella of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, civil society has also campaigned to call on governments and the international community at large to make active investments in responses to gender-based violence that not only respond to this form of violence but prevent it. Namely, initiatives like the Spotlight Initiative have indeed demonstrated that targeted investment in prevention can have sustainable and transformative impacts on the lives of women and girls across the world. Violence against women can and must be prevented, given the broad evidence of what works in preventing and eliminating it.

Objective:

The Group of Friends for the elimination of violence against women and girls was established in 2020 to promote efforts to address violence against women and girls in its many manifestations. The Group creates a platform to share lessons learned on efforts to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence, to improve cooperation, as well as to support advocacy initiatives and the mobilisation of additional resources. On the occasion of the 68^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), the Group of Friends will organise a joint conversation to shed light on how investment in preventive measures is critical to achieve the target of eliminating violence against women and girls by 2030. It seeks to:

• Outline the importance of investing in preventive measures that address violence against women and girls;
• Share experiences of ongoing prevention efforts and good practices at the local, national, regional and international level;
• Advance discussions on how the UN and Member States may further promote investment in preventive efforts from across all sector in society to fulfil the goal of ending all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030

Programme:

• Family photo
  • With Heads of Delegations and Permanent Representatives (Ministerial level only)
• Introductory remarks
  • H.E. Ms. Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality of the European Union
  • H.E. Ms. Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General
• High-level panel, moderated by Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming
  • H.E. Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women
  • Mr. Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation
  • Ms. Nayana Chowdhury, Senior Director of Breakthrough
• High-level segment: National Experiences with prevention investments
  • H.E. Ms. Aawatif Hayar, Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and the Family of the Kingdom of Morocco
  • H.E. Ms. Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Minister of Family and Social Services of Türkiye
  • H.E. Ms. Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Mongolia
  • H.E. Ms. Silveria Jacobs, Prime Minister of Sint Maarten of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
  • H.E. Ms. Yuriko Backes, Minister of Gender Equality and Diversity of Luxembourg
  • H.E. Vindhya Persaud, Minister of Human Services and Social Security of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana
  • H.E. Ms. Dominique Hasler, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport of Liechtenstein
  • H.E. Mr. Fernando Elisio Freire. Minister of Family, Inclusion and Social Development of Cabo Verde
  • H.E. Ms. Katarzyna Kotula, Minister of Equality of the Republic of Poland
  • H.E. Hon. Senator Katy Gallagher, Minister for Women, Minister for Finance, and Minister for the Public Service of Australia
• Closing remarks
  • H.E. Ms. Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications

Format:

Members of the Group of Friends are kindly requested to register who will represent them at the event by RSVP’ing via this link: RSVP here. A limited number of seats will be reserved for Group of Friends members. The event is open for everyone to attend.

This event will be held in English.

Access to ECOSOC on March 11^th:

The meeting will take place in the ECOSOC Chamber. To access the Chamber, attendees must hold a UN badge or a special event ticket. On March 11^th, access to the second floor will be restricted. Therefore, to enter the Chamber through the second floor entrance, attendees must hold a secondary floor access pass. Attendees without a secondary access pass can instead enter through the third floor entrance.

[1] https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures.