Our Government considers violence against women and girls as an assault on hu...

Our Government considers violence against women and girls as an assault on human dignity. Over the years, we have created a favourable environment for gender equality, women's empowerment and children's rights. We have demonstrated a strong political will to end the scourge by adopting supportive policies and legal frameworks, which include a gender- sensitive Constitution and laws on the prevention and punishment of gender-based violence and on the protection of children from violence. As Ambassador Power stated, our new parliament — our lower Chamber of Deputies — attests to the fruitfulness of the policies on our agenda, as recent elections raised women's representation in that body at 64 per cent.