Jordan Times
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Young leaders focus on violence against women
HRH Princess Basma on Tuesday underlined the importance of working to spread the culture of peace among people across the
world and to end all forms of violence against women.
The Princess made the remark at the opening of youth leadership course on “Eliminating all forms of violence against
women”, held by the United Nations University – International Leadership Institute (UNU-ILI).
The four-day course seeks to build the capacity of young leaders to respond effectively to challenges associated with
violence against women and focuses on culture-based violence and the role leadership can play in ending it.
“Violence against any woman is a violation of her human rights and is unacceptable, regardless of cultural context,”
Princess Basma said in her opening address.
“Every woman has the fundamental right to live in safety and security, and to know that society will protect this right… UN
conventions create the enabling environment for such universal protection,” added the Princess, who is member of the
council of the United Nations-mandated University of Peace.
“Women are encouraged to participate proactively as citizens — to vote, to stand for elections and to advocate for policies
that will enable them to achieve their full and equal rights,” the Princess said, referring to the municipal elections held
on the same day.
The four-day UNU-ILI course brings together young international leaders aged between 20 and 25, mainly from developing
countries and Jordan, to learn about the different forms of violence against women.
Moreover, the course provides them with the chance to share personal and collective experiences on how to stop such
violence, gain exposure to initiatives and projects on the topic and receive training in leadership skills for ending
gender-based violence in their societies.
Director of the UNU ILI in Amman Jairam Reddy said the course seeks to break the barriers and end the silence surrounding
the phenomenon of violence against women, adding that the event will showcase experiences and highlight related challenges
facing several countries.
The UNU-ILI is one of 13 institutes worldwide under the umbrella of the United Nations University. Its mission is to
contribute, through research and capacity-building, to efforts to resolve pressing global problems that are a concern of
the United Nations, its peoples and member states.