The ASEAN Women's Network (AWN) of the Education Inter­national in the Asia-Pacific joins the global campaign to stop "violence against women".

VAW (Violence against women) is the greatest human rights scandal that ever happened in human societies. From womb to tomb, it is an acknowledged fact that women face dis­crimination and violence throughout their lives. Currently, in 95% cases of violence within the family and the community, man is always the aggressor or perpetrator, taking out this violence from the simplest to the worst forms: beating, deprivation, battery even during pregnancy, female infanticide, incest, child prostitution, date rape, rape, sexual harassment, honour killings, dowry abuse, acid throwing, trafficking of women, the practice of "sati", marital rape, domestic violence, among others. Usually, these cases of violence happen in the family, community or perpetrated by State and non-State actors. The horrible statistics of violence reveal that the inhumane treatment against women needs to be STOPPED.

Considering that VAW is a universal phenomenon and en­demic in all social classes of both developing and devel­oped societies, the ASEAN Women's Network strongly be­lieves that VAW is a human rights issue, and a people's issue. It is a social problem with immense medical, social and economic costs and inflicts lifelong implications on the victim's state of mind. Hence, the Campaign to Stop VAW and all forms of discrimination against women must be anchored from the basic human rights principles, such as :

Human rights are universal;
Human rights are indivisible; and
Human rights are interdependent.

The ASEAN Women Network (AWN) sees the role of governments, especially the signatories to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW) as well as the mandate of the UN Resolu­tion 48/104 "Declaration on the elimination of violence against women", to adopt and carry out all measures to eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls.

AWN reiterates the important role of member organizations to translate into practice El Congress Resolutions in 2002:

demanding that educational systems be committed to bring about change in behaviors of men and women, boys and girls, so that equality be achieved and the cycle of sex stereotyping be ended;

develop and implement conciousness raising and infor­mation campaigns to stress the importance of these is­sues by teachers, and to make its members aware that non-violent behavior in their own home could have ben­eficial effects in all areas of life.

Combat all forms of violence against women and girls through the implementation of a long- term trade union plan of action which will cover defense of women's and men's human rights in cooperation with women's organizations and human rights networks. It is also one of its roles which is to develop a strategy aimed at the teaching profession on how to integrate "Stop VAW" campaign in the curriculum, and the need to broaden the civil society participation including the parents and other social institutions in eliminating VAW.

Our collective strength and voice on women matters should raise the awareness of the community and start the cru­sade to end VAW. This is a challenge for all of us.