More than 125,000 people in China signed on to UNIFEM’s Internet-based advocacy campaign, Say NO to Violence against Women. The signatures were collected on a separate web site created on a pro-bono basis by NetEase, one of China’s leading Internet portals and content providers. They were symbolically handed over to UNIFEM at a ceremony in Beijing on 6 March 2008 to coincide with International Women’s Day. With the Chinese signatures, the total number of campaign supporters is at more than 200,000, exceeding by far the challenge grant by the UN Foundation of US$100,000 to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women for the first 100,000 signatures. Read the complete story.
Mrs. Awa Ndiaye, Senegalese Minister of the Family, Women's Entrepreneurship and Microfinance, presents signatures to Mr. Antonie de Jong, UNIFEM's Advisor on Outreach and Business Development. (Photo: UNIFEM/Malcolm Linton.)

The Say NO campaign also got a major expression of support from the Government of Senegal, when members of the Cabinet, led by President Abdoulaye Wade, signed on to the campaign. The signatures of the President, Prime Minister Cheikh Hadjibou Soumare, and 23 Government Ministers were handed over during a ceremony on 4 March 2008 in New York led by Mrs. Awa Ndiaye, Minister of the Family, Women’s Entrepreneurship and Microfinance. “I’m very honoured to officially hand over the signatures of the Senegalese government to UNIFEM,” the Minister said. “For the President as well as the Cabinet, it is an official way to say no to violence against women and to show our commitment to UNIFEM’s important campaign.” The Minister expressed her dedication to partner with UNIFEM to create a society that is committed to the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment.