The Global Fund for Women along with grantees in India, the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict, and sister organizations in the United States* demand the United Nations, under Ban Ki-moon’s leadership, pressures world leaders to make ending sexual violence a top priority.
As tens of thousands took to the streets across India to express outrage over the brutal gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year-old student in Delhi, smaller protests were held in Ohio to condemn the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl, allegedly by members of small town’s beloved high school football players.
Millions of women are not safe in their homes, on the streets, or the workplace. In India, a woman is raped every 20 minutes and only 25 percent of rape perpetrators in documented cases are arrested or face conviction. In the United States, a woman is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes and only 24 percent of rapes reported to police result in arrests, and even fewer in convictions.
Although India, Ohio, and conflicts around the world are very different, they share far too many similarities. Gender-based violence arises from a deep-rooted misogyny that kills women physically and psychologically. In conflict, women’s bodies are savaged by rape and used as a weapon of war. And all too often, rape is trivialized, the survivors blamed, and justice denied.Systemic change is needed now. Just putting more police on the streets or reforming legal systems will not change the status quo. We must also change long-held beliefs that sanction abuse, harassment, and violence against women.
Please join us to take action now. Sign the petition below and the Global Fund, with our partners, will deliver your signatures to the United Nations Secretary General this March when the UN Commission on the Status of Women meets to discuss ending violence against women
