World-famous actors, humanitarians join UN call to end violence against women

Award-winning actresses Catherine Deneuve and Hillary Swank and humanitarian Sir Bob Geldof have added their names to an ever-growing list of names on a United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) online petition which aims to eliminate violence against women.

“Can you believe that one in three women will be a victim of violence?” asked Ms. Deneuve, the French film star, encouraging others to sign the “Say NO to violence against women” petition.

Hundreds of names – including British actor Christopher Lee and German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul – were added to the petition last night in Berlin at the Cinema for Peace event that seeks to promote understanding through film. Additionally, $100,000 was raised for UNIFEM’s UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women.

“Glittering evenings are generally not the place to dwell on hard truths,” UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman, who also serves as the campaign’s spokesperson, said in a video message to the Berlin event.

“But we cannot be together without our conscience being deeply troubled by the situation in Darfur, in Eastern Congo and in so many under-reported conflicts where women’s bodies have become part of the battlefield, where rape is being used intentionally as a weapon of war,” she added.

To date, the campaign, which will run until the end of this November, has garnered nearly 35,000 signatures. Last month, the UN Foundation (UNF) announced that it will donate $1 dollar for each of the first 100,000 signatures.