A new international coalition aimed at addressing violence against women and girls is being launched today, bringing together prominent female leaders from across the world. The initiative, unveiled on Tuesday 2 December 2025, forms part of the UK’s wider efforts to confront what ministers describe as an escalating global emergency.
Announcing the coalition during the Sixteen Days of Global Activism, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will stress that the newly created ‘All In’ panel is intended to drive political commitment and long-term investment to prevent violence. This year’s campaign focuses specifically on ending digital violence against women and girls, an area ministers say now requires urgent international cooperation.
The UK is co-founding the coalition alongside the Ford Foundation and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, with the aim of sharing evidence, expertise and effective approaches between countries. Harriet Harman, the UK’s Special Envoy for Women and Girls, will join global figures including Tarana Burke, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Graça Machel on the panel.
The government says the launch coincides with a worsening global environment for women and girls. Violence linked to conflicts in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza has highlighted the use of rape as a weapon of war, while worldwide data shows one in three women and girls experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime. An estimated 140 women and girls are killed daily by a partner or close relative. Domestically, one in eight women in the UK were subjected to domestic abuse, stalking or sexual assault last year, with rape offences reaching record highs.
The government plans to publish a domestic strategy aimed at meeting its goal of halving violence against women and girls within a decade. Led by Minister for Safeguarding and VAWG Jess Phillips and Minister for Victims and VAWG Alex Davies-Jones, the strategy will focus on prevention, pursuing perpetrators, and improving support for victims.
Yvette Cooper will also outline three areas for action: sharing global best practice, strengthening the role of peace and security policies in preventing sexual violence in conflict, and deepening cooperation on technology-enabled crimes, including illegal intimate image abuse.
New investment will be announced to expand StopNCII.org, a UK-run system used to block non-consensual intimate images across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and X. This forms part of a £4.85 million Integrated Security Fund package targeting violence both online and offline.
In her remarks, Cooper will say:
“Numbers alone are inadequate but they should shock us nonetheless. One in every three women and girls worldwide will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. 140 women and girls killed every day by a partner or close relative. ……. In a world where technological change means abuse is crossing borders at unprecedented scale and speed. Including non-consensual sharing of deeply personal material that can have life-changing consequences. And where the global response is completely inadequate. Systems, laws, regulations, compliance and enforcement that just aren’t fit for purpose in our digital age. ….. So I pledge to go ‘All In’ as Foreign Secretary. Working to ensure that women and girls around the world…can thrive and flourish – free from violence and free from fear.”
The Foreign Secretary says lessons from the UK’s Online Safety Act and new Ofcom guidance will shape Britain’s international efforts to address violence against women and girls.
