Today in History: UN makes today the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
The resolution was introduced by the Dominican Republic in honour of the deaths of three sisters in the country.
On this day in 1999, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution designating 25 November the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The resolution, which was introduced by the Dominican Republic, marked the anniversary of the death of three sisters, Maria, Teresa, and Minerva Mirabel, who were brutally murdered there in 1960. While women in Latin America and the Caribbean had honoured the day since 1981, all UN countries did not formally recognise it until 1999.
Many organisations, including the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), had been pushing for international recognition of the date for some time. A year earlier, Noeleen Heyzer, the director of UNIFEM, gave a speech at a fundraising breakfast in Toronto, Canada, encouraging men and women to participate in 16 days of activism against gender violence.
The voluntary effort was to begin on 25 November and last through 10 December, the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was passed in 1948 as a response to the genocidal terror of the Nazi regime. This 16-day period had particular significance for Heyzer’s Canadian audience, for one of Canada’s most horrific tragedies occurred on 6 December 1989, when Marc Lepine went on a shooting spree at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.
Lepine had entered the college with a shotgun and murdered 14 female engineering students before turning the gun on himself in what later became known as the ‘Montreal Massacre’. In his suicide note, Lepine declared his murdering spree to be an attack against feminism.
Women’s organisations worldwide have successfully pulled together for increased awareness and support of their cause. Although this is a sign of positive change in the struggle to end violence against women, statistics show that there is still much work left to do.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at northsider@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites
