November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and through videos, many people and organizations around the world are expressing their need to end the violence as well as the efforts they are undertaking to ensure that women have a safer world to live in.
UNIFEM, in the Say No to Violence channel on YouTube has already documented some of the actions being taken around the world to end gender violence. This video shows the Ngara Girls High School in Nairobi, Kenya, where young girls are being taught to say No to Violence, to stand up for their rights and also how to deal with rape, assault, harassment and other forms of gender violence:
Also in Kenya, the Kenyatta National Hospital has a Gender Violence Recovery Center, where women and their children can go and receive care in cases of violence against them.
Latin America and the Caribbean is a dangerous place for women. More than 50 per cent of the women in the region have been subject to aggression. In the Dominican Republic, for examples, 1 453 women were murdered between the years 2000 and 2008. In the context of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, UN-INSTRAW launches a new video about the security of Latin and Caribbean women.
The places mentioned in the video are less developed, women tend to have less power in the family. Leaving women unable to speak and end the violence. Educating the women will reduce the amount of women violence happening, but what needs to be done to stop it? There are such high rates of murder that punishments needs to be set up to reduce the illegal activities. Also, as long as gender and race are still seen differently there will always be violence. There needs to be a sense of equality of gender and race to reduce the amount of violence occurring.