President of the UN General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, has attributed the increase in violence against women in politics to moral and ethical failure in society.

“As a former parliamentarian and a lifelong politician, violence against women in politics is an issue dear to my heart. It is a moral and ethical failure on us as a society,” he said.

Mr Shahid said this at an event organised by his office on the sideline of the ongoing commission on the ‘Status of Women’ in New York.

On her part, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said violence against women in politics violated human rights to undermine governance.

“The aim of some groups is silencing women and robbing them of agency,” she said via video message.

The UN deputy chief noted that concrete action is needed to address violence against women and girls.

Also, the head of UN Women, Sima Bahous, said, “violence silences women, renders them invisible, and pushes them from public space.”

Mrs Bahous said hate speech is one of the drivers used to discredit women in the public sphere.

She noted that such violence was challenging on young women, who may respond by simply shunning political activism altogether.

“Only when women are safe from violence and there is accountability, only then, can we make progress,” she noted.

The event brought together vice-presidents, government ministers and senior officials from more than 20 UN member states. Some of them spoke from personal experience about the barriers to running for office as a woman candidate.

(NAN)