The President of Lithuania urges to focus on violence against women in Lithuania and the world
At the initiative of President of Lithuania and Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders Dalia Grybauskaitė, a letter calling on the international community to stop violence against women and to reduce its negative economic impact was handed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The call for action is issued jointly with President Michelle Bachelet of Chile.
According to the President, violence against women is a grave human rights violation that leaves deep scars on women, families and entire societies. It destroys lives and entails huge health, legal and social costs. For violence against women – everyone pays the price.
According to the UN, domestic and intimate partner violence causes more deaths and incurs much higher economic costs worldwide than homicides or civil wars. It is a massive problem with a cost of around 2 percent of the world’s GDP. In the European Union alone, the cost of violence against women is estimated at 225 billion euros. This is over 1.5 times the size of the EU yearly budget. The economic estimates of the cost of such violence help to better understand the scope of the problem and to address it more efficiently.
Twenty-three thousand reports on domestic violence were filed in Lithuania just in the first six months of this year. One in three women in Lithuania experiences domestic violence.
November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Press Service of the President
