Ndola — UNITED Nations (UN) Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, Elizabeth Mataka has challenged women to break the silence and stand up against harmful practices that have been perpetrating the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Mrs Mataka said this in Lusaka yesterday as Zambia joined the rest of the world in launching the International Day Against Women violence and the first day of 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence.

She said in a statement that African women had continued to carry the face of HIV/AIDS largely as a result of harmful practices that endangered them.

"This is why in my tenure as UN Special Envoy on AIDS, I will talk publicly and honestly about cultural practices that are harmful to women. We need to break the silence on this.

I ask that non-action be included in the definition of gender violence. It is our collective responsibility to take a stand against violence against women, remaining silent means we are complicit in violence and therefore an obstacle," Mrs Mataka said.

She said time had come for women to speak out against some cultures in Africa which compelled daughters to be brought up submissive to everything.

"We need to ask ourselves about the kind of legacy we will leave for our daughters and granddaughters. Unless we stand up to some of these harmful practices, all they will inherit is a certain death before they have actually lived," she said.

She said the needs and the rights of women should move from the empty discussion in the margins and get the necessary resources, attention and action with the urgency that they required.

She said strengthening the rights of women and girls was her priority area during her tenure as the UN Special envoy on AIDS in Africa.