Cuban Expert Calls for Global Commitment to End Gender Violence

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24 November 2016

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Cuban sexologist, Mariela Castro, called today for the political will of all States worldwide to lead major and decisive efforts to eradicate violence against women.

In statements to Prensa Latina, on occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women -on November 25th- the parliamentarian considered unacceptable the current situation, which has been marked by abuses that affect one in three women, according to the UN.

This is a terrible scenario, with murders, conditions of slavery, torture, forced marriages and abortion, and genital mutilation, the member of the High-Level Working Group for the International Conference on Population and Development, a body with a 2012- 2016 mandate, warned.

According to Mariela Castro, women at a global scale have suffered one of the worst violations of human rights, 'which reminds us the witch hunts to take away properties.'

There is a lack of political will in many governments, and the inaction turns authorities into accomplices of an institutionalized misogyny for centuries ago, still very far from being overcome, she stressed.

The director of the National Sex Education Center (CENESEX) in Cuba has called for laws and policies aimed at ending the scourge of violence against women.

The UN General Assembly has declared on December 17, 1999, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a day established in honor of the assassination in the Dominican Republic in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists executed by the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship.

The United Nations has again foreseen marches and gatherings worldwide this year in rejection of the abuses suffered by women, as well as the reenactment of the campaign 'Paint your world orange'.

It is expected that emblematic buildings and places worldwide will be illuminated on November 25 with orange, a symbol of hope, starting 16 days of activism against gender violence, which will conclude on December 10, Human Rights Day.