Canadian Minister of Health Jane Philpott: help reduce abuse and sexual violence inflicted on women and girls

Violence and sexual abuse against women and girls is a worldwide plague . It exists in every country, every community, every neighbourhood - and is certainly not confined to developing countries alone.

Compassion Globally averaged the numbers of reported rapes in six well-developed countries: Canada, Britain, Australia, the United States, Germany and Japan. When averaged, we found that one woman or girl is raped every three minutes. Police in these countries will tell you that for every reported rape at least nine go unreported. That would mean that approximately one  woman or girl is raped every twenty seconds in these six countries alone.

With such statistics in the "first world," think of what is happening in the rest of our world.

It is an extraordinary and ugly irony that the people who brought us all into this world should be so abysmally treated. This treatment of women and girls is nothing short of a plague. Let us all start now to insist on demonstrative change.

We the undersigned insist that Jane Philpott make it a priority of the Ministry of Health to take strong action now that can lead to a reduction of this obscene violence. For behaviour to change, society and its attitudes must change, and with the influence that you and your ministry posess, you are well positioned to send a clear message to Canadians that this violence will no longer be tolerated .