PURPOSE: The United Nations General Assembly adopts resolution 54/134, officially designating 25 November as the International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women as a day against gender-based violence since 1981. the day aims to raise public awareness around the issue, to Prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the world, to Increase both policymaking and resources dedicated to ending violence against women and girls worldwide, to call for global action to increase awareness, to promote advocacy and to create opportunities for discussion on challenges and solutions.

FORUM: "Towards Beijing+30: UNiTE to end violence against women and girls." International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2024. This year’s theme calls on all duty bearers, especially Member States and the private sector, to act upon the priorities of the review of the thirty years of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and Political Declaration—recommitting to preventing and ending VAWG, demonstrating accountability, and providing resourcing. This action includes implementing comprehensive, whole-of-government and whole-of society strategies, in partnership with women’s rights organizations. It involves allocating adequate budgets, implementing laws and policies to prevent VAWG, including eliminating discriminatory legislation, and urgently addressing femicide and ending impunity. It focuses on prioritizing survivor-centred holistic support for survivors, including developing gender-responsive legal and institutional frameworks, strengthening the health sector, and providing psycho-social support for survivors’ recovery. It also comprises strengthening law enforcement and justice sector responses, including increasing women’s access to justice and ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable. The good news is that we have more knowledge than ever before about what works to prevent VAWG. We need to focus on evidence-based interventions, including those that promote positive gender norms, attitudes, and beliefs that are captured in the RESPECT Framework on preventing VAWG. The presence of a strong and autonomous feminist movement is a critical factor in driving policy change to end VAWG. We must adequately resource women’s organizations, especially at the local level, through flexible funding, including for survivor-led organizations and for those in decision-making spaces, so they can demand accountability for ending VAWG. The 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2025 is a unique opportunity for the international community to reflect upon its promise that every woman and girl should enjoy a life free from discrimination, exclusion, and violence. The clock is ticking towards 2030 and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including eliminating VAWG. We urgently need action at all levels to prevent VAWG, hold perpetrators accountable, and invest in solutions to protect women and girls everywhere. UN Women will be calling to revitalize commitments, call for accountability and action from decision-makers. This year we mark the 25th anniversary of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women will highlight best practices of investment to prevent violence against women, gaps and challenges, and the way forward. This year’s campaign theme is also aligned to the 2024 priority theme of the Commission on the Status of Women, focused on Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective. The campaign and the Commemoration event will also be an activation moment for the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and the Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights (EJR) to build on the momentum of the Generation Equality midpoint moment, and the SDG midpoint summit, held in September 2023 to amplify commitments and investments to prevent gender based violence against women and girls. Please refer to the UNITE Campaign Concept Note which provides further information. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #Noexcuse, #25November, #orangetheworld, #16daysofactivism, #DomesticViolence and #GenerationEquality.

EVENTS; On Monday, November 25th from 16:00 - 18:30 pm at General Assembly Hall UNHQ a High-level meeting to mark the 25th edition of the Day and the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2024 was held. The 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action in 2025, coupled with the fast-approaching five-year deadline to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, presents a critical opportunity to rally all stakeholders to take decisive and urgent action for women’s rights and gender equality. This includes ending impunity and preventing all forms of violence against women and girls. 

The commemoration had the following objectives: 

•  Invite everyone to be an ally in preventing VAWG through taking a stand publicly, engaging in activities and events to raise awareness of VAWG in their communities.

• Mobilize all member states to allocate national budget to prevent violence against women and girls, including through their own national action plans and prevention across education, health, and social protection sectors by incorporating VAWG prevention.

•  Advocate for increasing ODA towards prevention of VAW, in line with national priorities and to support policy formulation, if feasible. 

• Call for greater support, increased long-term, sustainable investments from states, private sector, foundations, and other donors to autonomous women’s rights organizations working to end violence against women and girls in all their diversity. 

• Advocate for private and public sector investments on workplace policies and measures that ensure women’s economic security and safety. 

• Mobilize member states, development partners, philanthropies, private sector, universities and all actors to join the Generation Equality Action Coalition on GBV and make tangible policy, programmatic and financial commitments to accelerate transformative action to end all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls, including through:

•  Investing in the collective commitment on prevention, and

• Joining the collective commitment of the Action Coalition on GBV and the Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights on gender based violence and harassment in the world of work and to ratify and implement the ILO Convention 190.

The meeting will be a multi-stakeholder event with the participation of high-level representatives of Member States, women’s civil society organizations, United Nations agencies, Leaders and/or Commitment Makers of the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Gender Based Violence and Goodwill Ambassadors. The commemoration will take place as an in person event and will be broadcast live. This event will provide an opportunity to push the needle on the commitments and investment on prevention, including through Generation Equality and its Action Coalitions. The event will consist of four segments: 

SEGMENT 1: OPENING REMARKS. This segment will include opening remarks from the Secretary General, followed by UN Women’s Executive Director intervention, and aligned with the key messages of the 2024 UNiTE Campaign. High-level representatives from Member States, UN organizations and civil society organizations including AC GBV leaders and commitment makers , will highlight the discontent at the global scale of social and economic crisis, its disproportionate impacts on women and girls, and the high levels of VAW. In this context of growing inequalities, the ED will shed light on the evidence demonstrating that VAW can be prevented, and the imperative to scale up global investments to prevent VAW. 

SEGMENT 2: WHY INVESTING IN VAW/G PREVENTION MATTERS? WHAT DOES THE EVIDENCE SHOW?. The second segment will set the scene on the need to invest in VAW.G prevention and highlight the evidence on what works to prevent violence at scale. Effective approaches will be highlighted, including combined economic and social empowerment interventions, investing in women rights organizations, transforming gender social norms, and strengthening essential services for survivors. Commitment makers/leaders of the AC GBV that are doing the most groundbreaking work on prevention will be invited to share their expertise on what works and what they are investing in and why. 

SEGMENT 3: BEST PRACTICES OF INVESTMENTS TO PREVENT VAW, GAPS AND CHALLENGES, AND THE WAY FORWARD. An engaging roundtable discussion will share new cutting-edge data from the GBV Prevention Accelerator, a collective commitment to the Generation Equality Action Coalition on GBV, on the investment gaps, challenges and opportunities so strengthen investments on VAWG. The panel will highlight key investment models for prevention of violence against women, including through multi-sectoral National Action Plans, multilateral development banks, official development assistance and private sector investments. 

SEGMENT 4: CALL TO ACTION AND CLOSING. Existing and new commitment makers and leaders of the AC GBV will share their groundbreaking and catalytic commitments and will be followed by a strong call to action based on the advocacy priorities of the AC GBV leadership group and the findings /gaps highlighted in the Generation Equality Accountability report on the AC GBV with a view to attracting even more commitment makers throughout the 16 days. Accessibility will be ensured through interpretation and closed caption in four United Nations languages. The event’s safety will be maximized through a digital registration process. 

PUBLICATIONS: During this year’s obseravnce, the report Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides by UN Women and UNODC reveals that femicide—the most extreme form of violence against women and girls—remains pervasive globally. Globally, 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023. 60% of these homicides –51,100- were committed by an intimate partner or a family member. The data shows that 140 women and girls die every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative, which means one woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes.  Updated EVAW Facts and Figures.

STATEMENTS: Read United Nations Secretary-General's message on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 2024.

Joint statement and call to action; The Speech delivered by the UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous at the high-level meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2024 at UN Headquarters on November 25th, Read also the Letter from PGA (23rd October) and the Letter from PGA (15th November).