Note: Many thanks to my blog Twin, From My Brown Eyed View, for the reminder that issues of import oftimes remain silent unless we lift our voices to tell!
Fifty-two years ago today, three sisters were brutally assassinated in the Dominican Republic on the orders of dictator Rafael Trujillo. The merciless killing of the Mirabal sisters, Patricia, Maria, and Antonia came as a result of their refusal to
give up on their mission to restore democracy and civil liberties to the island nation.
In 1980, women activists groups inspired by the remarkable Las Mariposas (the butterflies) sisters, began to mark November 25 as a day against violence. On December 20, 1993 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Elimination of Violence Against Women designating, this day, November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in December 1999.
"Millions of women and girls around the world are assaulted, beaten, raped, mutilated or even murdered in what constitutes appalling violations of their human rights. [...] We must fundamentally challenge the culture of discrimination that allows violence to continue. On this International Day, I call on all governments to make good on their pledges to end all forms of violence against women and girls in all parts of the world, and I urge all people to support this important goal." Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, United Nations.
During the next
16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER BASED VIOLENCE (November 25 - December 20, 2012)
FAIPs will look at this issue with a focus on our most vulnerable and defenseless - our children.
Did you know that...
Over 3 million
children are reported as victims of physical, sexual, verbal and
emotional abuse each year...
Violence and neglect against children is reported-on average of every 10 seconds...
Each year almost 1.8 million children are reported missing - many of them abducted from their own homes and front yards...
Child violence permanently disables 18,000 children and 565,000 children are seriously injured every year...
Violence and neglect against children kills more than 3 children every day in America. Most of the children who die are younger than six years of age...
One in five
children will be sexually abused by the age of 18...
97% of
individuals institutionalized for violent crimes were abused
as children...
Source: Love Our Children USA
It is not a stretch to surmise that abused and neglected children are more times than not the children of abused parents - generally the mothers. We must fight against the circle of pain, neglect, and violence that tears away at our families and are very existence. Sixteen days is a start....
For All Intents & Purposes, So Glad You Stopped By!
HeB
HeB is the owner of For All Intents & Purposes. As a SwAAW (Strong-willed African-American Woman), HeB reserves the right to speak her mind, voice her opinion, and just tell it like it is. A Baby-boomer - whose voice was shaped by the Last Poets, the Funkadelics, Malcolm, Martin, incense, and black-lights - HeB's voice is not dictated by her employer, professional,social, philanthropic, academic, educational or service or organization of which she is a member or affiliated.
