Positive Masculinity is Key in Ending Gender-Based Violence

Speaking at the 3rd African Union Men's Conference on Positive Masculinity, held in Pretoria, South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the role of men as an increasingly influential force in making the Convention to End Violence Against Women and Girls a tangible achievement throughout Africa. Ramaphosa called for the renewed support for the AU Commission in ensuring the Maputo Protocol Scorecard and Index for the realisation of women's rights is popularised and implemented.

The meeting is taking place in the week that the annual campaign of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence starts across the globe. This year's UN theme for 16 days of activism is 'UNiTE! Invest To Prevent Violence against Women and Girls,' and by using #NoExcuse as a slogan and hashtag, the campaign calls for financing different prevention strategies and transforming social norms to end violence against women and girls.

According to UN Women, some 736 million women - almost one in three - have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their lives. More than four in five women and girls (86%) are living in countries without robust legal protection, or in countries for which data are not readily available.