This is not a women's issue, it is a whole of society issue.
IT has been widely reported and indeed stated by Australia's sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick that gender-based violence is one of the greatest human rights abuses happening in this country.
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Despite increased conversation and some outstanding work from those working in violence prevention fields, men's violence towards women and girls continues at alarming rates.
Yesterday, being the International Day for the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Children and White Ribbon Day, is a reminder to all of us that this continues.
White Ribbon started two years after the massacre of 14 women by a gunman in Montreal. A group of Canadian men wanted to take a stand against violence against women and started the movement in 1991.
In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 25 the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Children. It is the beginning of 16 days of activism to stop violence against women, which ends of Human Rights Day on December 10.
The day marks the anniversary of the assassination of the Mirabal sisters - Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa.
The sisters were three Dominican political dissidents who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. In 1960, Patricia took charge of a meeting that established the Clandestine Movement. When that plot against the tyranny failed, the sisters and the Clandestine Movement were persecuted.
In November that year, Trujillo declared his two problems were the church, and the sisters. Later that month the sisters were assassinated in an 'accident' as they were being driven to visit their husbands in prison.
White Ribbon Day is now held on this date each year.
The statistics alone should concern all of us - one woman is killed every week in Australia by a current or former partner. One in three has experienced physical assault and one in five has experience sexual assault. The most common location for those assaults is in the home.
The United Nations definition of violence against women is "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life''.
This is not a women's issue, it is a whole of society issue. No section of the community is immune to this gender-based violence - it affects all demographics and cultures. It affects women and girls in many ways, not always physically but always about power and control.
It sounds simplistic to say we have the power to change this, but we do. It starts with each of us taking a stand against behaviours that contribute to gender-based violence. As acting superintendent Ray Gardner said yesterday, don't be a bystander.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence, call 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, phone 000.