International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women - 25 November

Women everywhere, in peacetime or in times of internal or international armed conflict, must never again be victims of violence.

On this 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Women's Committee of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) reaffirms and confirms its unconditional commitment to the complete realization of this objective, which it considers an absolute priority, and, in this perspective, to pursue its actions with a view to:

• put an end to the flagrant and often deadly attack on women's safety and dignity, and
• provide victims with effective and efficient access to justice, as set out in the Charter of Fundamental Principles on Access to Justice for Women Victims of Violence, which it proclaimed in Paris on 8 March 2022, in cooperation with bar associations and law societies, in particular those that have signed up to the Charter, and with the support of the UIA.

In this same perspective, the Committee wishes to emphasize that it is becoming increasingly urgent and crucial to act upstream to avert and prevent any act of violence against women and girls, and urges Bars and Law Societies to conduct awareness-raising campaigns aimed at changing concepts, mentalities and, consequently, attitudes towards women. And in the age of Artificial Intelligence, and as part of the initiative it launched during this year's UIA annual congress in Paris, the Committee calls for utmost vigilance with regard to any data and information bearing the stamp of discrimination against women that might be conveyed there, in order to avoid perpetuating prejudices and stereotypes that could generate masked and insidious violence, particularly in the world of work, and thus harm women and their rights.

We, UIA’s Women's Committee and its members, lawyers who are fully committed to the cause, invite you to join us in putting an end to violence against women in all its forms.

Together, we will succeed.

Elisabeth Zakharia Sioufi

UIA Women’s Committee President

See statement

See statement