International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

The “International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women” was established by the UN in 1999. It occurs every year on November 25 and governments, international organizations and NGOs are committed to raising awareness about the issue and thus creating public opinion.

18 years have passed since its establishment. Much has been done but it’s far from enough. There’s  no need to look further afield where violence against women is concerned. It can happen right next door to us and go undetected..
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The words of St John Paul II resound very strongly in his Apostolic Letter Mulieris dignitatem (MD, August 15, 1988), underlining that “God created man and woman in his image, not just as individuals but, in their commonality as the as ‘unity of the two’. The man and woman, therefore, are essentially the same, both persons called as such to participate in the intimate life of God and to live in mutual communion with one another, in love, on the model of God who is Love, who is unity in the Trinity, and to mirror in the world the communion of love that exists in God (MD 7). ” It is a milestone which needs to be faced daily as individuals and as a society.