The Embassies of Ecuador and El Salvador in Australia with the support of the Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies (ANCLAS), the Global Institute for Women's Leadership and the School of Computing at the Australian National University seek to celebrate and raise awareness for the International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The panel aims to raise awareness of violence against women and girls (VAWG) which remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it. Violence against women and girls remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world. Globally, an estimated 736 million women — almost one in three — have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their life.

The panel will provide the opportunity to hear from experts in this field, such as, the Australia Ambassador for Gender Equality, Stephanie Corpus Campbell, the Chief of Mission for Australia and Coordinator for the Pacific of the International Organisation for Migration, Ms Jacqueline Weekers and Dr. Ligia Carolina Oliveira-Silva, Senior Research Fellow of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership.

Moderator: Noel Campbell (Director, Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies, ANU)

Opening remarks: Arturo Cabrera Hidlago, Ambassador of Ecuador to Australia

The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “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 deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”