The escalating violence in Ukraine has put millions of women’s and girl’s lives at risk and threatens to displace over a million innocent civilians. There are already more than 2.9 million people in need of assistance in the region, and most refugees fleeing Ukraine are women and children.
One in three women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
All the time... everywhere.
We are confronting one of the world's oldest and most widespread human rights abuses: violence against women and girls. Although such violence is a global epidemic, it is especially prevalent in areas of crisis and displacement.
VOICE is a feminist organization working towards a world where girls and women are respected leaders in designing and implementing solutions to eradicate violence -- both in their communities and within the halls of power.
We are working to help meet the needs of women- and girl-led organizations in a growing number of countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Colombia, Hungary, Iraq, Moldova, Myanmar, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, the United States, Venezuela, and Yemen. Many of our team members come from the places that we work, meaning that deep local knowledge, expertise and lived experiences underlie our approaches.
Our team includes humanitarian practitioners, researchers, and human rights defenders with over 100 years of experience in feminist movement-building and violence prevention and response.
Latest News
VOICE Report: Download a comprehensive list of all Taliban policies restricting women’s rights since August 2021.
The global humanitarian community is failing to meet the needs of women and girls displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and adequately support women- and girl-led organizations on the frontlines of the emergency response, according to a new, seven-part regional assessment from VOICE, in partnership with HIAS. The reports were developed by VOICE’s 10-member assessment team, who spent four weeks speaking to women’s rights organizations, frontline workers, local NGOs, government workers, United Nations agency actors, and internally displaced and refugee populations
Statistics tell us that women do almost 80% of unpaid care work in the world. Most women have less/little access to and control over resources, hold few positions of power, and have little if any control over decisions that affect their lives. For these women, establishing self-care as a right will do little to change their lived realities. We need to ask: who and what will make it possible for women to challenge everyday norms and expectations by taking care of themselves? What makes it possible for women to prioritize their wellbeing in the way that we are advocating is not ‘nice to have,’ but absolutely essential to their physical, mental and emotional health?
By Tarangee Mutucumarana, Attorney at Law and Barrister at Law of England and Wales, practicing in Sri Lanka. | Access to justice for victim-survivors of sexual violence globally is restricted by various social, cultural, structural barriers and legal complexities which can be better addressed through a keen analysis of the gatekeepers of law enforcement; the police force.
Elizabeth Dartnall, Executive Director, the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), and Emma Fulu, Founder and Executive Director, The Equality Institute (EQI), on embracing the wisdom of the crowd and challenging the way we prioritise and fund research on violence against women.
We the undersigned are writing to you at this time in accordance with the landmark United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (S/RES/1325) on Women, Security, and Peace, adopted in 2000 that calls on “all parties to the conflict to respect fully international law applicable to the rights and protections of women and girls, in particular the obligations applicable to them under the Geneva Convention of 1949
Disruptive &
Catalytic
Sharing & Shifting Power
Reflective
Unapologetically Feminist
Boldly Political
Accountable
How we work matters as much as what we do; our endeavors are led by women and girls’ realities, priorities, and expertise.
Join Our Movement! Subscribe to stay informed about all things VOICE
English
Albanian
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Czech
French
German
Greek
Hindi
Hungarian
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Myanmar (Burmese)
Pashto
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Sinhala
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Sudanese
Tamil
Ukrainian
Urdu