23.11.2014

It was a miserably wet Sunday in Trafalgar Square, and to mark The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women,  (tomorrow, 25 November),  Women of the world and the International community joined together in the rain to support the struggle of women against ISIS in the Middle East. 

Speaking at the rally at the base of Nelson’s Column, Jean Lambert addressed the crowd, saying:

‘ISIS is a woman-hating, misogynistic belief system – and those women who have chosen to join it should be under no illusions. They are not partners – they are tools and ultimately disposable.

‘ISIS, like other similar movements, has demonstrated its contempt for women, through their kidnap, enslavement and sale.  They try to justify this on the basis of religious difference. It is about terror and forced conversion. I am sickened, too, by the way that the rules can be “adapted” to allow for slavery or temporary marriage to permit what is really rape and violence – meaning the perpetrators do not have to face the reality of what they are doing.’

The women in Kobani and Rozhawa (Syrian Kurdistan)  have shown amazing and unimaginable courage with their bravery and resistance to ISIS. Tomorrow, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we continue to campaign so that

• Violence against women is recognised as a human rights violation;
• Violence against women and girls is not seen as inevitable. Prevention is possible and essential