The U.N. adopted an historic declaration yesterday calling on all nations to combat violence against women and girls, and stating that violence against women could not be justified by "any custom, tradition or religious consideration."
Conservative Muslim and Catholic states – such as Iran, Libya, Sudan, the Vatican and Honduras – as well as Russia had objected to language on gay rights, abortion and marital rape. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said that it would lead to the “complete degradation of society.” A liberal coalition of primarily Western nations, led by Denmark and Norway, watered down language on these issues in order to secure the accord.
I think it's a great step in the right direction, and I'm only surprised that it took them so long.
Historic UN declaration adopted to combat violence against women | The Raw Story