Minister for Foreign Affairs adds his support to UN campaign to end violence against women
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, T.D., today added his signature to the international campaign “Say No to violence against women”, which is sponsored by the UN Development fund for Women (UNIFEM).
The UNIFEM campaign seeks to reach one million signatures in a global call for action by 25 November 2008, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On that date the signatures will be presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. 35 Governments, including Ireland have now signed up to the campaign.
The Minister took part in a signing ceremony in Dublin before addressing a conference on women in conflict and peace-building organised by the Joint Consortium on Gender Based Violence.
Addressing the conference, Minister Martin stated: “This campaign sends a strong message that violence against women is an abuse of human rights, and that ending violence against women should be high on the global agenda. The EU has a vital role to play in this process”.
He also stated that “the establishment of the Conflict Resolution Unit within my Department opens up further avenues for advancing our work in this area. The Unit has adopted the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, on women, peace and security as one of its six key objectives.
In developing our National Action Plan Ireland has invited women from Liberia, Timor-Leste and Northern Ireland to engage in a process of cross-learning to share experiences and to inform the implementation of the Security Council Resolution in each country”.
Eliminating violence against women is already a priority in
Ireland’s domestic and foreign policy:
• Ireland is a strong supporter of UNIFEM and has provided
funding, through Irish Aid, to its core work and its Trust Fund to
End Violence Against Women.
• Irish Aid is a key member of the Joint Consortium on Gender
Based Violence.
• Gender based violence has been selected as the main theme of
Ireland’s term as Chair of the Human Security Network, an informal
group of 13 countries which maintains dialogue on human security
and related issues.
• Ireland has been actively involved in efforts towards the
implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 on the role
of women in peace and security.
• The Government is committed to addressing gender-based
violence in Ireland. Cosc (the National Office for the
Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence) was
established in June 2007 as a cross-Government executive office of
the Department of Justice.
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17th November 2008
Press Office
