President Halonen meets US Secretary of State at women’s meeting in Vilnius

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Tarja Halonen in Vilnius on 30 June 2011. Copyright © Office of the President of the Republic of Finland

President of the Republic Tarja Halonen met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the international summit in Vilnius on Thursday 30 June 2011. President Halonen and Secretary Clinton discussed bilateral relations and current international affairs.

The summit had been convened by President Halonen and Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Lithuania to discuss how to increase women’s participation in decision-making and exchanging experiences of good practices. Topics included women’s financial independence and violence against women.

President Halonen noted that there are no accurate figures or statistics on violence against women, because it is not considered important enough to monitor. “In order to stop the violence, we need to make it visible through statistics, research and publicity.
“It is not acceptable to use terms such as ‘crime of passion’ or ‘honour violence’. This is violent crime whichever way we look at it,” President Halonen stressed.

One of the organisers of the meeting is the Council of Women World Leaders, which has been chaired by President Halonen since 2009. The other organisers include European and American NGOs and research institutions and the US State Department.

President Tarja Halonen, President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga and President of Lithuaniai Dalia Grysbauskaite in VIlnius on 30 June 2011. Copyright © Office of the President of the Republic of Finland

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