Over the next two weeks, the United Nations Annual Commission on the Status of Women is meeting in New York City to discuss its primary theme—elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. On 4 March 2013, UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet called on the General Assembly to devote much needed attention to the implementation of international policies on women’s rights. “Violence against women and girls remains widespread,” Bachelet said, “and impunity is still the norm rather than the exception.”
An overarching goal for the Commission is to devise the means to hold nations accountable to the international declarations and legal treaties which address violence against women and girls.
Compiled from: Alex Pearlman, “A Short Primer on the 57th Annual UN Commission on the Status of Women,” Global Post (March 4, 2013); “UN Meeting Takes on Violence Against Women and Girls,” UN Wire (March 5, 2013).