UN chief's message on International Women's Day

March 08, 2013 - With the world outraged by violence, atrocities and denial of dignity to women, the United Nations chief has called the international community to fight this “global health menace.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon made the call in his message for the March 8^th International Women’s Day, which this year had as its theme: "A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women." In the message he looked back at a year of shocking crimes of violence against women and girls, such as the case of the Indian woman gang-raped to death and the Afghan teenager shot at for daring to seek an education. “This year on International Women’s Day, we convert our outrage into action,” Ban wrote in the message. “ We declare that we will prosecute crimes against women — and never allow women to be subjected to punishments for the abuses they have suffered. We renew our pledge to combat this global health menace wherever it may lurk — in homes and businesses, in war zones and placid countries, and in the minds of people who allow violence to continue,” Ban said. He particularly called for solidarity with “women in conflict situations, where sexual violence too often becomes a tool of war aimed at humiliating the enemy by destroying their dignity.” Ban urged his senior advisers to make the UN’s response to “sexual violence a priority in all of their peace-making, peacekeeping and peace-building activities.