CAIRO: The United Nations Information Centre in Cairo held a press conference last week during which the Center's Director, Maher Nasser made a presentation on the Secretary-General's campaign to end violence against women which will continue for several years. UNIFEM's Egypt Coordinator Maya Morsy also spoke at the press conference. Nasser said that at least one of every three women in the world is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to UN estimates; and one in five women will become a victim of rape or attempted rape. Trafficking, sexual harassment, female genital mutilation (FGM), dowry murder, honor killings and female infanticide are other widespread aspects of the problem. During his launch of the campaign, the Secretary-General of the United Nations said that violence against women made its hideous imprint on every continent, country and culture and that "it was time to focus on the concrete actions that all of us can and must take to prevent and eliminate this scourge . Running from 2008 to 2015 - to coincide with the target date of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - the campaign will focus on three key areas: global advocacy; United Nations leadership by example; and strengthened efforts and partnerships at the national, regional and international levels. The campaign aims to mobilize of world leaders and decision makers in governments, private sector, civil society, media and others in the campaign to ensure action to end violence against women. One of the campaign's main goals is to provide political will and increased funding from governments, international and UN organizations, private sector and other donors to adopt policies and implement programs that would deal with this problem. At the launch, the Secretary-General called on world leaders, men and women, to spearhead national campaigns to end violence against women. Morsy, UNIFEM's Program Coordinator in Egypt, spoke about UNIFEM's work to support Egyptian national efforts to achieve gender equality and empower women. She also spoke about UNIFEM's campaign launched in November 2007 entitled "Say No to Violence Against Women which was led by UNIFEM's Goodwill Ambassador Actress Nicole Kidman. That campaign has so far been joined by over 55,000 signatures from celebrities and others. Morsy invited everyone to visit the campaign's website and add their name to those who want to stop violence against women. - UNIC
