UN joins One Billion Rising

1 in 3 women on the planet is raped or beaten in her lifetime. That is one billion women. Tomorrow, on 14 February 2013, Eve Ensler's V-Day organization is inviting one billion women and those who love them to rise up, walk out, dance and demand an end to this violence.

The Office of the General Secretary of the United Nations, in unison with its UNiTE to End Violence Against Women Campaign, will join One Billion Rising at UN Headquarters in New York, at 12:30 p.m. EST.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told One Billion Rising: “The Secretary-General and I share your commitment to preventing and ending all forms of violence against women and girls. This is precisely the message of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign started in 2008.”

He went on to stress that it was at “the heart of the efforts of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura, who works on these issues around the world.”

Thursday’s events around the world will also serve as a prelude to the upcoming gathering of the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN in March. This year’s Commission will be the largest-ever UN assembly to end all forms of violence against women and girls.

Here, UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet lends her voice to and takes a stand with the One Billion Rising campaign, which will move the earth, activating women and men across every country.

• For more information on the campaign and actions planned in your country for 14 February 2013 go to: http://www.onebillionrising.org/
• United Nations Radio - One Billion Rising, Michelle Bachelet