International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Today is being recognized worldwide as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.



The day was so designated on December 17, 1999, by the United Nations General Assembly, which invited governments, international organizations, and NGOs to organize activities to raise public awareness of the problem on that day.



The issue is particularly relevant to Jamaica given the seeming increase in recent times of violent attacks against women and children.



Women\'s activists have marked November 25 as a day against violence since 1981.



This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of three political activists, the Mirabal sisters, in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo.



On December 20, 1993 the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.



The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says as the world approaches the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, violence against women persists as an all-too-common violation of human rights and human dignity.



It says violence against women is the most prevalent and least punished crime in the world.



UNFPA says violence against women is a grave threat to health and well-being and that together with the global financial crisis and climate change, it constitutes a major challenge of our time.