 For more than a hundred years, the world has commemorated International Women's Day. Each year, International Women's Day presents an occasion to celebrate the progress in the road of women's right to equality. It is an occasion to be reminded that the road remains long and full of obstacles. It is a time to pay tribute to the countless women throughout history who have dared to stand up, to protest and to say no to discrimination against women and girls and to one of its worst manifestations, violence. The universal nature of sexual violence against women and girls is only a reflection of centuries of domination and oppression of one sex over the other, which has kept women in a secondary place, long excluded from public life and from positions of power. The consequences of this inequality linger on today and research forcefully at times where we see that women are scarcely represented in national and global political and economic decision-making bodies but concentrated in precarious employment and often paid less. We see women who live in situations of dependence economically and professionally for existence and for advancement. Women experience life from childhood to old age as inferior and disadvantaged rather than as equals. We need to maintain the momentum to make it a truly global movement which reaches all the women and girls in places where breaking the silence on violence against women is still taboo and where women have little resort to justice and no choice other than carrying the burden of shame and blame. It is in these places far away from the spotlights of international media that the voices of women need to be heard and must be heard. Stand up for human rights. Stand up for women's rights.