Ms Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General has said that worldwide, almost one-in-two women murdered were killed by a partner or ex-partner.
Mohammed stated this in Brussels Belgium at the launch of a new partnership between the UN and EU, an essential tool to make violence against women and girls a thing of the past.
Addressing the European Development Days, she said that the joint Spotlight Initiative was a key element for making Global Goal 5 on women’s empowerment, of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, a reality.
She said that in some countries, spotlight will focus on the most extreme form of violence femicide.
Mohammed said some of the violence took place due to the broader insecurity that women faced, particularly where they were advocating for women’s rights.
She painted a picture of women not fully included in decision-making, being subjected to a “global pandemic” of violence against women and girls.
Now in the third year of working towards the Sustainable Development Goals, the forum in 2018 is spotlighting on gender equality.
The UN deputy chief cited the World Bank in detailing how women’s equal participation in the labour force had the potential to unlock 160 trillion dollars for sustainable development reinvestment.