Ban Ki Moon addressed the opening of CSW at which he launched the campaign ‘Unite: To end Violence against Women’. The multi-year campaign to end violence calls world leaders, member states, lawmakers, United Nations entities, civil society, the private sector, the media and individuals to work together to end violence against women. “This is a campaign for women. It is a campaign for the women and girls who have the right to live free of violence, today and in the future. It is a campaign to stop the untold cost that violence against women inflicts on all humankind,” he said.

The United Nations Secretary General stressed that a special mechanism to monitor violence against women has to be established in relation of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. Ban Ki-Moon called on global networks to bring men and boys into the issue of violence against women and work actively with them to sensitise and mobilise communities. Ban Ki-Moon also called on the cooperation of the world’s youth, women’s groups, the private sector and member states to help the new initiative succeed. The campaign will run until 2015, the same target year as the internationally agreed aims known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The World YWCA welcomes the commitment from the United Nations to end violence against women. Promoting women’s security in all areas of life – in public and at home – is essential. Eliminating Violence against women is a priority area for the World YWCA; YWCAs around the world respond to violence against women through a wide range of programmes from shelters and hotlines to advocacy and awareness building. The YWCA Week without Violence is commemorated around the world annually in October with events and activities to raise awareness on the types of violence women face, its impact on the community and to call for justice for women worldwide.

World YWCA at CSW
As a women’s movement committed to the empowerment of women, young women and girls, the World YWCA is partnering with women’s organisations at CSW like WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Scouts), AWID (Association for Women’s Rights and Development), EWL (European Women’s Lobby) in joint advocacy for financing of women’s empowerment in the context of HIV and AIDS.

The World YWCA has been elected to the drafting committee of the CSW and will contribute to the outcome documents of the CSW ensuring arguments supporting women and peace building are incorporated. As part of implementing the World YWCA Council resolutions on peace building, the World YWCA, in partnership with Isis-Women's International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), will advocate for inclusion of commitments on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women in fragile states. The World YWCA is also advocating for member states to find the most effective ways to allocate adequate resources through flexible and accessible financing mechanisms for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

CSW Opening Ceremony
Other addresses at the opening session included Rachel Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women.
“Women account for most of the poorest people in disaster-prone areas and always faced the greatest obstacles to rebuilding their lives after disaster struck”. She called on the Commission to include human security in its agenda, address the threat climate change has on humanity and hold a meaningful discussion on its impact on women, men and children.

Taina Bien Aime, of the international human rights organisation Equality Now, speaking on behalf of women’s organisations championing an end to violence against women, said governments and grassroots organisations must join forces to end the unspeakable acts of violence committed against women. “Those who committed such vile acts in the name of religion or ‘cultural practice’, who exploited women in the sex trade and used rape as weapon of war must be held accountable under the law.”

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