On 27 February the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Cairo held a press conference on the Secretary-General's campaign to end violence against women.  The campaign will continue for several years and aims at intensifying efforts to end violence against women and girls.  UN Development Fund for Women's (UNIFEM) Egypt Coordinator also spoke at the press conference.

UNIC Cairo's Director spoke to the participants and said that at least one of every three women in the world is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to UN estimates; and one in five women will become a victim of rape or attempted rape.

UNIFEM's coordinator spoke about UNIFEM's work to support Egyptian national efforts to achieve gender equality and empower women.  She also spoke about UNIFEM's campaign launched in November 2007 entitled "Say No to Violence Against Women" which was led by UNIFEM's Goodwill Ambassador actress Nicole Kidman.  That campaign has so far collected over 55 000 signatures from celebrities and others.

For more details on the Secretary-General's campaign, please visit http://endviolence.un.org/.  For more details on UNIFEM's campaign, please visit http://www.saynotoviolence.org/

In an immediate response to the Secretary-General's world wide campaign to end violence against women, United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Manama lead the UN Communication Group (UNCG) and all UN agencies in the launch of a campaign to end violence against women in Bahrain.

The launch took place on 26 February and participants included the Resident Coordinator for Bahrain, the Director of UNIC Manama, the Secretary-General of Bahrain Supreme Council of Women, the President of The Shelter For Women Victims of Violence in Bahrain, the Deputy Chairperson of Bahrain's Jurists League, the Head of Women's National Union, the Head of Bahrain’s business women’s Association, representatives of an array of non-governmental organizations and UN agencies and media professionals.

On Monday, 25 February, the UN Information Centre in Rio de Janeiro and the UN Radio and Television Service signed an agreement with Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), the Brazilian public broadcasting company, to briadcast news about the UN's activities in Brazil and around the world. The EBC controls one national TV network, several local and regional radio stations and an internet news agency.

Through this agreement, the EBC will have access to many of the UN's audiovisual products and will collaborate with UNIC Rio de Janeiro to create programs of mutual interest. EBC will give UNIC Rio access to their studios and equipment for producing and editing UN information materials.

As the first step towards implementation of the agreement, EBC will begin broadcasting the UN series, "21st Century", in a new programme entitled “Big reportages” that is due to be launched this month.

EBC’s President affirmed that “this is the first agreement signed by EBC and it demonstrates the universalism of the public TV.”

The Chief of the UN Portuguese Radio Service said that “Brazilians represent an important audience for the Organization” and thanked the EBC for the opportunity to serve the Brazilian public.

“The creation of EBC is an important step to make information more democratic in the country, and we are very happy to collaborate in this project”, said Giancarlo Summa, UNIC Rio’s Director.

Also present at the ceremony, which took place at EBC headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, were EBC’s General Director, the company’s Journalism Director, and President Director of the Roquette Pinto Association of Educative Communication (Acerp), among others.