International sport federations commit to combat violence against women and girls
Date:
August 2015
Bangkok, Thailand – Twenty three sport federations from around the world committed to promote gender equality and train coaches and athletes to prevent violence against women and girls.
A joint pledge was signed by the sports groups' representatives and presented to UN Women during the Muaythai Royal World Cup 2015 held in Bangkok last August. The signing ceremony was witnessed by over 400 delegates and sports representatives from around the world.
The event was attended by UN Women Asia Pacific Deputy Regional Director, Anna-Karin Jatfors, Stephan Fox, President of the Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport (AIMS), Julie Gabriel, AIMS Executive Board member in charge of Social Responsibility, and Sue Latta, Vice President of the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur (IFMA), who head the Female Empowerment through Muaythai (FEM) initiative.
During the World Cup and AIMS Conference, Twenty-six international Muaythai coaches participated on a consultation to develop a new training package for the prevention of violence against women on sports settings. The session was organized by UN Women Asia Pacific in partnership with IFMA. The package is expected to be finalized and launched by 2016.
In addition, UN Women Asia Pacific presented the Sport Is Your Gang Award to the Mexican Federation of Muaythai at the Night of Olympism on 19 August. The gala saw the participation of over 2,000 Muaythai delegates from around the world as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps in Thailand.
As part of its ongoing efforts to end violence against women, UN Women actively engages with male-dominated sports associations to mobilise men and boys to reject violence and promote healthy and non-violent relationships
For more information please contact:
Alejandro Hita
Email: alejandro.hita@unwomen.org