Why does violence against women appear to be on the increase at the same time that States are doing more through legislation to protect women? Dr Yakin Ertürk is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and she spoke to Jane Gabriel about why she is calling for a new global system to monitor violence.

In February this year United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced a worldwide campaign by the UN to end violence against women. Dr Ertürk, now in her fifth year of her job as Special Rapporteur says “We don’t need campaigns. We need action”.

Each year Dr Ertürk reports on the causes and consequences of violence against women to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Last year she addressed the need to challenge the cultural relativism of the south and the cultural essentialism of the north, used to explain the violence. This year she is calling for the international community to come up with a new, common definition, of violence against women. You can read her reports in full here.

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