Activists campaign for treaty to end violence against women
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Women's rights activists from 128 nations are launching a public campaign for an international treaty to end violence against women and girls, a global scourge estimated by the United Nations to affect 35 percent of females worldwide.
The campaign led by the Seattle-based nonprofit organization Every Woman Treaty aims to have the U.N. World Health Organization adopt the treaty with the goal of getting all 193 U.N. member states to ratify it.
Every Woman Treaty co-founder Lisa Shannon told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of Tuesday's official launch that "violence against women and girls is the most widespread human rights violation on Earth."
She called it "a global pandemic" and said that "we cannot make progress as a species without addressing violence against women and girls."
