Indeed, our federal, state and local governments and many private organizations now fund programs to help battered women and sensitize law enforcement authorities to the nature of the problem. Too often women and girls bear the brunt of harmful traditional or customary practices that cause physical and emotional scars. Now that we have entered a new millennium, these practices must end. We applaud, too, those who put women's rights in the Universal Declaration and labored through the intervening years to deliver on its promise. And we applaud the progress women have made in every country and which made the Beijing Women's Conference and its Platform of Action possible.
Women make up half the world's population.
We have gone a long way down the road to promote and protect all women's human rights and fundamental freedoms, but we have a long way yet to go. Our path is straight, our duty clear. We will not stop, we cannot stop, until those words are facts in every country of the world. This site is produced and maintained by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy, Japan. Links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.