U.N. details atrocities committed against women

In a November 2nd Op-Ed article, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert likens the scope of the violence committed against women globally to a world war. Herbert, addressing the recent publication of a United Nations report that highlights the extent of the problem worldwide, questions the tepid reaction to the report in the media and highlights the need for greater financial support for women’s rights advocates in developing nations.

According to the U.N. report, massive numbers of women around the world continue to be targeted in acts of unspeakable cruelty. In Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, hundreds of women have been killed in recent years by men who did not expect to be punished for their crimes. In India, bride burnings constitute a significant portion of the thousands of female homicides carried out each year. In Ethiopia, men kidnap and rape as a way of obtaining wives. In conflict zones like Darfur, the crisis is exaserbated, with levels of violence against women spiking.

Intimate partners are the most common perpetrators of these crimes, and this is true even in developed countries like the United States, where a recent study indicates that nearly 80% of all young female homicide victims were murdered by an individual close to them.

Herbert urges his readers to recognize the extent of this crisis and treat the U.N. report as the call to action that it is.

The full article can be accessed through the New York TimesSelect, here