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International Women's Day 2009 Public Forum at UNU
10 March, 2009
On Friday, 6 March, the United Nations University joined with 15 other UN agencies in Japan to commemorate International Women's Day by holding a joint public forum on the theme "Women and Men: United to End Violence against Women".
The theme was selected to draw attention to the multi-year (2008-2015) UN campaign "UNite to End Violence against Women". This campaign seeks to raise public awareness and increase political will and resources for preventing and responding to all forms of violence against women and girls, in all parts of the world.
In a message read at the public forum, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the consequences of violence against women "go beyond the visible and immediate. Death, injury, medical costs and lost employment are but the tip of an iceberg. The impact on women and girls, their families, their communities and their societies in terms of shattered lives and livelihoods is beyond calculation."
The forum's keynote addresses were delivered by UNICEF South Asia Regional Director Daniel Toole and journalist Mika Tsutsumi. These were followed by a panel discussion moderated by UNU Academic Programme Officer Madoka Futamura, with panelists from the Gender Equality Bureau of the Japan Cabinet Office, Human Rights Watch Asia Division, All Japan Women's Shelter Network, and the Tokyo Offices of UNICEF, UNFPA, and UNHCR.
In spite of the cold, rainy afternoon, the forum was attended by an audience of more than 200 which included diplomats, journalists, and the general public. All attendees received a rose to symbolize the event.
International Women's Day at UNU
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Page last modified 2009.11.02.
