Silence is the worst response to violence against girls and women

Punta Arenas (Chile), November 25th 2022.- Violence against girls and women is a pandemic that we have not been able to quell in the world, despite the efforts that are deployed every day. As recognized by the United Nations, it is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations.

According to the UN, one in three women is affected by some form of gender-based violence and every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed by a family member somewhere in the world.

It is an evil with strong cultural roots that we repudiate today as we join in the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This is one of the problems of greatest concern to the World Association of Women Journalists and Writers (WAMWJW).

Our association, in addition to being alert to all types of gender violence, is horrified to see how aggressions against women journalists and writers who challenge totalitarian regimes, confront power groups, fight corruption and/or denounce the atrocities of drug trafficking, wars and insurgencies, among other evils, are on the rise.

Situations such as those experienced recently – the unprecedented detention of women journalists in Iran, the murder of female reporters in Latin American countries, the detention of women writers and the harassment and censorship that continue to be applied in various parts of the world – are facts that cannot be accepted. Neither impunity nor silence can prevail over them.

All this reminds us of the event that led to the establishment of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: the murder of the Mirabal sisters in 1960.

War and internal conflicts in many countries also expose women to all kinds of violence. In particular, we stand in solidarity with women war correspondents and recall that among the eight journalists who have been killed in the Russian war against Ukraine is a Ukrainian producer.

Every action against freedom of expression and freedom of the press is an attack in itself against women, who represent 50% of the world’s population and who, in many societies, are among the most vulnerable groups.

As AMMPE, we join the call of the United Nations for the global activism to put an end to violations of the rights of girls and women, because we know that silence is the worst response to gender violence.