Groundbreaking for International Centre to End Violence
Located in the historic 100 building, the new centre will be a facility that is dedicated to creating international conferences, forums, and exchange programmes supporting everyone’s right to live free of violence. (Photo: FVPF)
8 January 2010
UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador and Say NO Spokesperson Nicole Kidman joins to celebrate the new international centre to end violence in San Francisco.
At the groundbreaking for a new international centre to end violence in San Francisco, UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador and Say NO Spokesperson Nicole Kidman called upon world leaders to join in the fight to end the global pandemic of violence against women and girls. At the ceremony, UNIFEM announced its partnership with the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), which has also been a Say NO partner since the launch of the initiative. Through this groundbreaking, FVPF is taking its first Say NO action for this year and is showcasing its activities on the Say NO website.
“The Family Violence Prevention Fund and UNIFEM are fast friends and veterans of the struggle to bring violence against women out from the shadows. We have to see the survivors and perpetrators. We have to face them and ourselves. We have to bring our indignation and opposition to our communities, to our government leaders and in one strong voice Say NO to violence against women and girls.”
Located in the historic 100 building, the new global action centre will not only be a crossroads where international activists and leaders meet to share experiences and lessons that advance policies and solutions to end violence against women and children. It will also be a space where practitioners, activists and survivors will learn from each other, and contribute to solutions on the ground.
The FVPF has made it its priority to prevent violence within the home and in the community and to help survivors. The partnership with UNIFEM is the result of a long-term collaboration to support change that protects women and children. The organizations work together to strengthen effective programmes on the ground funded by the UNIFEM-managed United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women or provide field-based lessons to the proposed US International Violence against Women Act, about which UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman testified at the October Congressional Hearing in Washington, DC.
As a Say NO partner, the FVPF will send news of the groundbreaking and partnership globally through the Say NO – UNiTE network of more than 140 organizations around the world, and more than 40,000 international supporters.
Based on country data, it is estimated that up to 70 percent of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime. From delivering food to New York shelters to collecting signatures on the streets of Bangkok - thousands of people have already used the Say NO network to demand action on the issue. Say NO calls for global and local action and is a multi-year worldwide effort that contributes to the United Nations system-wide effort, UNiTE to End Violence against Women, led by the UN Secretary-General. It builds upon the momentum generated in 2008, when over 5 million signed on to a global internet campaign to make ending violence against women a top priority worldwide. Heads of State and Ministers from 69 Governments and nearly 700 Parliamentarians have added their names to the Say NO initiative since then.
Join us to celebrate the groundbreaking of this global action centre on ending violence today by adding your name here to support the Family Violence Prevention Fund.
