New York — This year the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign will commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Wednesday, 22 November 2023, from 10am to 11.30am EST. Under the global umbrella theme “UNiTE! Invest to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls”, the event will shine a spotlight on the importance of financing prevention strategies to stop violence from occurring in the first place, galvanize action to secure increased investments, and kickstart the activities of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence.
The event will launch a report by the Accelerator for GBV Prevention and the Equality Institute—formalized as a Collective Commitment with the Generation Equality Action Coalition on GBV—showing that financial commitments to gender-based violence (GBV) prevention remain severely insufficient, accounting for only 0.2 per cent of overall aid and development spending.
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November will kick off the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, lasting until 10 December. UN Women will be inviting Member States, civil society, UN entities, the private sector, women’s rights organizations, and individuals to join the 16 Days of Activism, calling for increased long-term, sustainable investments and raising awareness of the need to end gender-based violence now.
WHEN: Wednesday, 22 November 2023, from 10am to 11.30am (EST)
PARTICIPANTS:
- Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed
- President of the 78th Session of the General Assembly, Dennis Francis
- Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous
- Under-Secretary-General and UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Natalia Kanem
- Member States representatives
- Generation Equality Action Coalition Leaders and Commitment Makers
- Civil society representatives
- Host: Melissa Mahtani, international affairs journalist
The event will feature a musical performance by Veronica Stern and the Sing for Hope Choir and spoken word performances by Amanda Rose Rodrigues and Salome Agbaroji, the 2023 U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate.
HOW TO WATCH THE EVENT: The event will take place in person and will be livecast through UN Web TV and UN Women’s Youtube channel. Follow the online conversation using the hashtags #NoExcuse and #16days and follow @UN_Women on X.