More than a third of women worldwide have experienced either physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives, according to a joint statement from the heads of UNDP, UNICEF, UN WOMEN, and UNFP.
"The last year has been extraordinary in terms of the awareness that has been raised on the extent and magnitude of the different forms of violence inflicted on women and girls," they stated.
The UN organs highlighted the work of 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureates Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege.
Murad, a native of Shingal, became a human rights activist after being taken captive by ISIS in 2014 and sharing her and other Yezidis' survival stories with the world.
Mukwege is a gynecologist from the Congo who is widely recognized for his work treating victims of rape as a weapon of war.
"The #MeToo campaign — one of the most viral and powerful social movements of recent times — has brought this issue into the spotlight," read the joint statement.
In the Kurdistan Region, 14 women and girls were officially reported dead in "honor" killings for 2017; although that and the topic of suicide remain sensitive and largely under-reported — often by the families themselves.
Women and girls also face societal, familial, and other pressures in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. A string of killings of high-profile women in Baghdad garnered attention this fall including the murder of Iraqi model Tara Fares.
"Ending violence against women and girls is not a short-term endeavor. It requires coordinated and sustained efforts from all of us. Showing that these efforts yield results is the best tribute to survivors and the survivor advocates and women’s human rights defenders that we are celebrating today," added the UN statement.
The UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign has found that physical and sexual violence against women "could amount annually to around 2 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). This is equivalent to 1.5 trillion dollars."
The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women invests in national and local initiatives which translate policy promises into concrete benefits to prevent violence against women in the long-term.
The Kurdistan Regional Government's director general of the Joint Crisis Coordination Center tweeted that injustice is "systematic" and widespread in "every disfunctioning democracy."
#WomensRights systematic Injustice is widely witnessed in every disfunctioning democracy, with irregular unfree, unfair elections, weak opposition parties, false freedom of speech, unindependent media, & censored public criticism,women can be empowered through equal opportunities pic.twitter.com/r9mlCq4PKP
— Hoshang (@HoshangMohamed) November 24, 2018
"Women can be empowered through equal opportunities," Hoshang Mohammed tweeted. His center works closely with non-governmental organizations and tracks displacement in the Kurdistan Region.
Several non-governmental organizations based in the Kurdistan Region actively address gaps in gender-based violence (GBV) through awareness, education, economic empowerment, facilitating psychological and medical care, and other means.
Update: 2:17 p.m.
