UN launches database to help woman

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Source: CCTV.com | 03-06-2009 17:19

Ahead of International Women's Day on March 8th, the United Nations has launched a new database to curb sexual violence against women.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a speech on Thursday in which he called violence against women "an abomination."

A woman who was abused by her husband covers her face, so as not to be identified by her family, at the Sisterhood Is Global Institute office in Amman March 5, 2009, ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji

The UN chief said that one in five women around the world suffer from rape or attempted rape and that in some countries as many as one in three women were sexually abused.

Later in the day, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, officially launched the new database.

It will allow member states and intergovernmental organizations to contribute information and statistics, give victims access to help, and include programs and measures to end violence against women.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei