Is Violence against women and girls cultural or criminal? Violence against women and girls remains the most pervasive human rights violation around the world. It manifests itself in many forms: sexual violence, physical violence, emotional and psychological violence, harmful traditional practices, socio-economic violence, and other forms of gender-based violence. Explicit and implicit cultural legitimation for violence against women and girls has to end if we are to deliver on the promise of a socially just and ecologically sustainable world order for everyone. Do you know? One-third of women continue to experience gender-based violence during their lifetime Despite years of unending struggle to end all forms of gender-based violence, more than 1 in 3 women continue to experience gender-based violence during their lifetime, a figure that has largely remained static over the last decade. This becomes even more alarming when we realise that the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all countries globally in 2015, calls for the elimination of violence against women and girls (by 2030) – namely through target 5.2 under SDG-goal 5 on gender equality and women’s empowerment. International day for the elimination of violence against women theme 2022 The annual observance of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign that began on Friday, 25 November 2022 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) ended on Saturday, 10 December 2022 (Human Rights Day). Led by civil society, and managed by UN Women, the campaign is supported by the United Nations through the Secretary General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women initiative that was launched in 2008. This year’s theme was “UNiTE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”. Against the Pushback, We #PushForward | 16 Days 2022 Is femicide data, the tip of the iceberg? According to a study, of the estimated number of 81,100 women and girls killed intentionally in 2021 worldwide, 45,000 (55%) were killed by intimate partners or other family members. In other words, more than 5 women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their own family. While these numbers are alarmingly…