Kidman: Women must feel safer

2008-11-26 10:00

Edith M Lederer

United Nations - Nicole Kidman, who says her other job as a UN goodwill ambassador gives meaning to her life, announced on Tuesday that more than five million world leaders and ordinary people joined a campaign to fight violence against women.

But the 41-year-old Australian star said even though the campaign attracted five times as many signatures as it initially forecast, ending violence against women must remain a global priority "as long as one in three women and girls may be abused in their lifetimes".

Kidman became a goodwill ambassador in January 2006 for the UN Development Fund for Women, known as Unifem, and has spent the past year promoting its Say No to Violence Against Women campaign.

To mark International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women on Tuesday, Kidman presented UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with a large spiral book containing signatures from some of the 5 066 549 people who signed on to the campaign.

Ban called for greater efforts to enforce laws protecting women and prosecute perpetrators as well as stepped up efforts "to combat attitudes and behaviour that condone, tolerate, excuse or ignore violence committed against women".

Under-reporting of crimes

"We do not know the true number of victims but we do know that there are far more crimes than ever get reported, and far fewer lead to arrests," Ban said in a statement.

"In too many places, rape still carries a stigma that forces women to avoid the courts that should exist to protect them."

Unifem Executive Director Ines Alberdi said the campaign's supporters include 29 world leaders, 188 ministers and over 600 parliamentarians from more than 70 countries including Presidents Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Michele Bachelet of Chile and Tarja Halonen of Finland, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Actresses Catherine Deneuve and Hillary Swank and rock musician turned activist Bob Geldorf also joined the campaign.

At a news conference announcing the results of the campaign, a journalist who noted that Kidman's mother was a nurse and feminist and her father a psychologist asked the actress what made her become a goodwill ambassador for Unifem.

Equal opportunity

"I think in some ways I've always been heading toward wanting to put some meaning into my life and this is probably how I see myself doing it," said Kidman, who was in town for the premiere of her movie Australia.

"The reason I chose the subject of women is because I was raised by a mother who was very passionate about ... having her daughters educated, and wanted her daughters to have an equal opportunity," she said.

"I was the product of that, and now I'm out there hoping to pass on to the next generation and work in a greater capacity then just as an actress," Kidman said.

- AP