Last week, the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women announced that they will grant $3.5 million to help developing countries address ways to curb violence against women.
In total, there are 28 initiatives in 20 countries that will receive grant money.
The funds will be used to implement laws, train law enforcement and raise public awareness and accountability to protect women from gender-based violence. Programs include working against gender-based violence and its connection with HIV/AIDS, helping women and girls with disabilities, supporting indigenous communities in Guatemala, Bolivia and Ecuador as well as in communities along the Nicaraguan coast, where response to cases of domestic abuse is slow.
According to Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women, countries emerging from conflict, particularly Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, are at particular risk. In Afghanistan, for example, girls are at risk simply for attending school. In Liberia, 40 percent of women and girls report being a victim of sexual violence.
To make matters worse, U.N. Peacekeepers are under fire for raping women and girls in regions such as Haiti and the Congo.
I believe in being supportive of travel to any place your heart desires, but obviously special care must be taken when considering travel to regions with deplorable records of abuse against women.
Happy Travels!
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