Several purple buildings against sexist violence

The One World Trade Center skyscraper or the iconic Grand Central station are some of the buildings that tonight will be lit up in purple in different parts of New York to denounce sexist violence and commemorate what is known as “Wear Purple Day”, a national initiative to raise awareness about this scourge.

In addition to engineering works, such as the Kosciuszko Bridge, or institutional headquarters such as the Department of Education, Niagara Falls, in the extreme north of New York state, will also be dyed purple.

Governor Andrew Cuomo assured that this initiative aims to “shine a light” on “the plague of domestic violence as a show of support for survivors and their families.”

“The unprecedented challenges due to the covid-19 pandemic have increased the sense of isolation that survivors face, but New York will continue to fight to bring domestic abusers to justice and protect the most vulnerable,” the governor added.

In 2018, New York City recorded 30 murders committed by the victims’ intimate partners, 22 of whom were women and eight were men.

Likewise, another 25 murders perpetrated by family members were recorded. In this second case, 14 of the fatalities were men and eleven women.

In 2019, there were more than 87,000 complaints of domestic violence perpetrated by the intimate partner of the victims in the Big Apple, while in the rest of the state there were more than 28,000 cases, according to official data.

Likewise, last year the helplines for battered people received 320,000 calls.

Authorities, organizations and associations have warned of the danger of increasing rates of sexist violence during confinements decreed in a large number of countries due to covid-19, since, among other things, they favor greater contact between the abuser and his / her victim and reduce the chances of those affected to contact the help services.

Visit the NY1 News page with our special coverage on the coronavirus:

Coronavirus outbreak

– .