Source: Leadership                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, has called on world leaders to step up immediate and decisive actions against violence on women and girls globally.

Speaking yesterday during the 2014 annual session of the Executive Board of UNFPA, the UN Development Programme and the UN Office for Project Services in Geneva, the former Nigerian health minister stressed the need for urgent and intensified efforts to end gender-based violence and discrimination.

Saying that gender-based violence was one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world, Dr Osotimehin asked to know when the world would stand up and say 'enough is enough' to violence and discrimination against women and girls.

He said, "They are not safe at school, not safe fetching water, not safe on a university campus, not even on the steps of a courthouse or in their own homes. These crimes cast a long shadow. Survivors of intimate partner violence, for example, face increased risks of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and their children have worse health outcomes.