Nicole backs anti-violence drive
2007-11-27 15:56
Claudia Parsons
United Nations - The United Nations
women's agency launched a campaign on Monday backed by actress
Nicole Kidman to gather signatures on an internet petition
rejecting violence against women and urging action to stop it.
The launch of the petition titled "Say NO to violence
against women," (www.saynotoviolence.org), is part of a 16-day
UN-backed campaign to raise awareness about the issue and
urge governments to make eliminating such violence a priority.
Joanne Sandler, acting head of the UN Development Fund
for Women, Unifem, said she hoped for hundreds of thousands, or
even millions, of signatures to add weight to calls for
concrete measures to be taken by governments.
Kidman, an Australian who is a goodwill ambassador for
Unifem, did not attend the launch at UN headquarters but said
in a statement she was among the first to sign, calling
violence against women, "an appalling human rights violation."
Unifem said statistics indicate that as many as one in
three women will experience violence in her lifetime, whether
it be domestic violence, genital mutilation, human trafficking
or systematic rape in conflict zones.
- Reuters