In 2012 the UN's Secretary-General's UNITE to End Violence against Women campaign declared the 25th of each month as Orange Day. The initiative comes as a result of the need to further promote the cause and raise awareness to the ongoing struggles to eliminate violence against women.
To this day this is one of the most widespread violations of human rights.
FACTS
Up to 70 per cent of women experience violence in their lifetime.
Between 500,000 to 2 million people are trafficked
annually into situations including prostitution, forced labour, slavery
or servitude, according to estimates. Women and girls account for about
80 per cent of the detected victims.
It is estimated that more than 130 million girls and women
alive today have undergone FGM/C, mainly in Africa and some Middle
Eastern countries.
The cost of intimate partner violence in the United States
alone exceeds $5.8 billion per year: $4.1 billion is for direct medical
and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly
$1.8 billion.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
identifies violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence
that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or
psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such
acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in
public or in private life.”
Starting today, the next 16 days (up until Human Rights Day on December 10) are dedicated to providing education, awareness and a platform for individuals and groups to come together and join efforts in ending violence against women.
For more information and ways to help
