UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for action to end violence against women and girls. In a message for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, observed yesterday, Mr. Guterres said, the epidemic of violence against women and girls shames humanity.
       

He expressed concern that every day, on average 140 women and girls are killed by someone in their own family. He said that around one in three women still experience physical or sexual violence and the situation is getting worse.

The UN chief stressed that crises of conflict, climate and hunger have inflamed inequalities, adding that horrendous sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war.