Province commemorates International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

November 25 2015

FREDERICTON (GNB) – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was officially commemorated by the provincial government today.

“Violence against women is a societal issue that impacts individuals, children, families, the workplace and our communities,” said Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Stephen Horsman. “It is a violation of human rights.”

Nov. 25 was designated as a day of observance by the United Nations in 1999. According to the United Nations, 35 per cent of women and girls experience some form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime. In some countries, the number is as high as seven in 10, with most women and girls never reporting the abuse and continuing to suffer in silence.

Horsman pointed to the recently-launched Love Shouldn’t Hurt campaign as an example of the provincial government’s ongoing efforts to address issues related to violence against women.

The campaign aims to help change how New Brunswickers think and act about the issue of intimate partner violence and reduce society’s tolerance for such behaviour.

Through social and traditional marketing, the Love Shouldn’t Hurt campaign will increase public awareness and understanding of intimate partner violence with an aim to create a social environment that supports and encourages positive behavioural change. The campaign will also connect New Brunswickers with a variety of support services available to both victims and abusive partners.

The campaign is an initiative of the province’s Roundtable on Crime and Public Safety, which brings together community agencies, the police, the private sector, academia, First Nations groups, municipal and federal governments, and several provincial departments to collaborate on improvements to crime prevention policy and practice in the province.

Interested individuals can follow the campaign on Twitter and Facebook.

A number of diverse partners, including government agencies, are working together on various files related to issues of violence. These include:

• delivering training to front-line interveners on risk assessment tools;
• reducing crime and victimization, specifically domestic and intimate partner violence;
• developing a multi-agency, co-ordinated approach to intervening with victims and offenders in high risk/high danger domestic and intimate partner violence cases;
• rolling out the revised Woman Victims of Abuse Protocols across New Brunswick; and
• delivering domestic violence outreach, second stage and transition house programs and services and implementing gender-based analysis.

“As long as violence against women and girls is a reality in our society, we will continue our work to improve lives by building a stronger and safer New Brunswick where families can live free from violence and abuse,” said Horsman.

NT5