International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

On November 25th, the three Mirabal sisters, known as the Butterflies, were brutally assassinated by agents of the Trujillo government´s Military Intelligence Service. This atrocious incident -unfortunately not an isolated one in Dominican history- is the reason for the international Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, passed by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 54/134 on December 17, 1999.

The Ministry of Women, as an entity responsible for establishing standards and coordinating the implementation of policies, plans and programs at the sectoral and inter-ministerial levels and with civil society, understands that the history of the Dominican Republic, as with the history of any other country, cannot write on the margins the participation of women in the political, social and economic process .

The Mirabal sisters, like so many other illustrious Dominican activists and revolutionaries whose deeds are intimately linked to the democratic process that began in the Dominican Republic in 1961 with the death of the tyrant Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, have contributed with their sweat and blood to the climate of peace that reigns today in our country.