News
Say NO to Violence against Women Campaign Gets Support from Finland
Date: 15 September 2008
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Finland's President Tarja Halonen signed on to the UNIFEM-led Say NO to Violence against Women campaign at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on 11 September 2008, during a visit by UNIFEM Executive Director Inés Alberdi organized by the Finnish National Committee for UNIFEM.
At the meeting, President Halonen and Ms. Alberdi discussed different aspects of gender equality and women's empowerment and the importance of implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. Finland is launching a National Plan of Action on resolution 1325 on Friday 19 September 2008.
President Halonen spoke passionately about her work on ending violence against women. She recalled a time when she was in Vienna in the mid-1980s presenting Finland's report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and raising the issue of violence against women. At the time, gender-based violence was not a topic of much discussion, and after her speech a representative from the Chinese delegation came up to her to say that he was sorry to hear that Finland had such problems. She answered that this is not just a Finnish problem, but a global problem.
"The truth sometimes hurts," she told Ms. Alberdi and those present at Thursday's meeting. "But silence kills." She then proceeded to sign on to the Say NO campaign.
Finnish Prime Minister Mr. Matti Taneli Vanhanen and a number of Cabinet Ministers have also signed on to the campaign, as well as church leaders, labour union leaders, and representatives of employers' organizations, in a widespread effort to collect signatures organized by the National Committee.
Internationally acclaimed opera singer Karita Mattila is spokesperson for the Say NO campaign in Finland.
For more information, please contact the Finnish National Committee for UNIFEM, unifem[at]unifem.fi, +358 9 694-0944.
