Violence against women is a scourge of society. Laws tolerate violence against women by failing to consider it a crime or by punishing it lightly. Society tolerates this violence by being silent about it.
Women and their organizations demand that any form of violence against women (or any member of the family) be ended in practice and in law. They question the social and cultural bases of violence against women. They urge the public to discuss the effects of such violence on women and members of the family. They seek the understanding of people on the need to take action, or to improve measures, against it. They lobby for law reform—to enact new laws, or revise or repeal old laws—in order to appropriately penalize such violence.
Decades earlier, the United Nations called on countries to make violence against women a criminal offense and to take active steps to prevent its occurrence. At present, there is still much work to do to eliminate violence against women.
Violence against women, as a grave human rights violation, has to be addressed at various levels. There must be initiatives directed at the national government as much as the local government. There must likewise be efforts at dialoguing with people in the community regarding socio-cultural norms and practices, and other causes of this violence.
While women and their organizations have taken the lead in eliminating this violence, the pursuit of this difficult task needs the involvement of the society as a whole.