Press Release
Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman Calls for Ending Pandemic of Violence Against Women and Announces Partnership at Groundbreaking for International Centre to End Violence
UNIFEM Joins Family Violence Prevention Fund on Programme for Global Action Centre
For immediate release
Date: 8 January 2010
Media Inquiries:
Oisika Chakrabarti, Media Specialist, UN Women Headquarters, +1 646 781-4522, 
 |
United Nations, New York — At today’s groundbreaking ceremony in San Francisco’s Presidio National Park (3 p.m., PST), UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman will spotlight the need for concrete actions to end violence against women globally and announce UNIFEM’s partnership with Family Violence Prevention Fund’s new International Centre to End Violence. Located in historic building 100, the new global action centre will be a crossroads where international activists and leaders convene, share experiences and lessons that advance policies and solutions to end violence against women and children. Other leading participants in the ceremony will be Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; Joe Torre, Manager, Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Team and founder, Safe at Home Foundation; and Esta Soler, President, Family Violence Prevention Fund.
According to Ms. Kidman: “As we break ground for this new international centre, there is no doubt that ending violence against women remains an urgent issue and belongs on centre stage. Solutions require action and investment, and strong partnerships like the one we’re announcing today between UNIFEM and Family Violence Prevention Fund. In this place, UNIFEM and Family Violence Prevention Fund will work together to convene leaders from around the world so that they can share best practices, create new models for effective programming, and spread the knowledge so that others can build on these strategies.” Based on country data, it is estimated that up to 70 percent of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime.
The partnership to be announced today between UNIFEM and Family Violence Prevention Fund — which works to prevent violence within the home and in the community and to help those whose lives are devastated by violence — is the result of a long-term collaboration to support change that protects women and children. The organizations work together to strengthen effective programmes on the ground funded by the UNIFEM-managed United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women or provide field-based lessons to the proposed US International Violence against Women Act, about which UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman testified at the October Congressional Hearing in Washington, DC last year.
“We are proud to be a partner to this path-breaking global centre. It will be a space which will open doors to many whose voices are yet unheard, where practitioners, activists and survivors will share and learn from each other, and contribute to solutions on the ground,” said Inés Alberdi, UNIFEM Executive Director.
Family Violence Prevention Fund and UNIFEM will send news of the groundbreaking and partnership globally through UNIFEM’s innovative Say NO - UNiTE to End Violence against Women network of more than 140 organizations around the world, and some 40,000 international supporters. Say NO - UNiTE, for which UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman is the Spokesperson, calls for global and local action and is a multi-year worldwide effort to mobilize people from all walks of life to end violence against women. Through its advocacy and outreach, Say NO - UNiTE contributes to the United Nations system-wide effort, UNiTE to End Violence against Women, led by the UN Secretary-General.
Say NO - UNiTE builds upon the momentum generated in 2008, when more than 5 million signed on to a global internet campaign to make ending violence against women a top priority worldwide. Heads of State and Ministers from 69 governments and more than 600 parliamentarians have added their names to the Say NO initiative since then.
Media interested in attending the event, please contact:
- Marsha Robertson, marsharobertson[at]tallmedia.com; or
- Elizabeth Dye, edye[at]me.com
Related Documents/Links
- Speech by Nicole Kidman
