Say No To Violence

From the UNIFEM website:

Facts & Figures on Violence Against Women

Violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture. It takes a devastating toll on women’s lives, on their families, and on society as a whole. Most societies prohibit such violence — yet the reality is that too often, it is covered up or tacitly condoned. — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, 8 March 2007

Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually someone known to her. Perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation that we know today, it devastates lives, fractures communities, and stalls development.

It is so easy for those of us in the developed world to say that the big problems are happening elsewhere, to people we don't know in lands where we have never been. Given the statistics, however, we all know women who have been victims of violence. No matter how safe and secure you feel, a woman or girl you love will be the victim of violence in her lifetime. Maybe you will never know. Maybe you will only learn about it after the fact. Maybe you will watch from afar feeling unable to stop it from happening. Maybe you will sympathize with the abuser and condone the violence, or you will blame the victim because you disapprove of her behavior. Maybe you will pretend it doesn't exist because to admit it does means that you, too, are living under the threat of it happening to you.

Go sign the petition and see what you can do to stop this violation of the human rights of one half of the world's population.