First Global Broadcast – Women on the Frontline – Presented by Annie Lennox on BBC World took place on April 18, 2008 at 19:30 GMT.
Fourteen years ago, in April 1994, news got out that ethnic violence in Kigali was spreading throughout Rwanda. Since then, the world community has struggled to explain how the genocide of 800,000 people happened in full view, but less discussed is the ongoing impact of the rape and other forms of sexual violence committed against hundreds of thousands of women. Violence against women is the theme of Women on the Frontline, a series of seven films being broadcast for the first time by BBC World at 19:30 GMT to about 300 million households to help peel away the silence surrounding the brutality of gender-based violence that crosses all borders.
“Violence against women threatens the lives of more young women than cancer, malaria or war,” said Annie Lennox, the British singer who presents the series of investigative reports. “It affects one in three women worldwide. It leaves women mentally scarred for life, and it is usually inflicted by a family member.”
Contributed by Anuradha Bhattacharjee, 07 May 2008