The European Union (EU) and the United Nations launched the Spotlight Initiative, which seeks to eradicate violence against women at global level. Through this project, large-scale specific investments will be made in Asia, Africa, the Pacific, the Caribbean and Latin America. In Latin America, it will be implemented in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
The initiative has a total fund of 6 million Dollars, of which 10% will be allocated to a fund of competitive resources for projects driven by civil society organizations. The main contributor will be the European Union but a multi-stakeholder fund of the United Nations will also be employed.
This project arises from a context where women and girls today suffer one of the most persistent and devastating outrages in the world. The rights of thousands of women worldwide are being violated, affecting all nationalities, generations, communities regardless of age or ethnicity. The name of the initiative is precisely due to the fact that violence takes place in the dark. To face this, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are essential elements of Agenda 2030 for sustainable development and are crucial for their achievement.
In Argentina, the initiative seeks to end the most extreme manifestation of this problem: Femicides. The implementation of this initiative will work at national and provincial level. Until December 2020 it will take place in Buenos Aires, Salta and Jujuy. These cities are selected for their high rate of femicides and the commitment of their provincial governments.
The choice of Argentina as a country to implement this project is based on the recognition of the commitment of the National State to the subject, mainly from the start-up of the first action plan for the prevention, assistance and eradication of the violence against women, as well as the fact that they have ratified international human rights treaties. However, the choice is also because violence is a very serious problem in the country. According to the data of the Ministry of Security, a woman is killed every 32 hours.
Source: https://www.un.org/es/spotlight-initiative/