When we come together in ceremonies of remembrance for those victims of violence, we are also acknowledging a responsibility to act, to make our communities safer places in which to live, to work and to raise our families.

We may exercise that responsibility in different ways, but together we share a collective vision for a world in which there are no such atrocities that undermine the value of human life and the human spirit. Although we may despair as we struggle in the shadow of violence, and the progress we make appears to be far too slow, we cannot lose sight of the vision that unites us.

When we speak out against violence, we are speaking out for human rights. The December 1993 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women recognizes "the urgent need for the universal application to women of the rights and principles with regard to equality, security, liberty, integrity and dignity of all human persons."

Amnesty International published It's About Time: Human Rights are Women's Rights in 1995, noting that brutal acts of violence against women - including domestic violence, child abuse directed at girls, dowry-related violence, female genital mutilation, rape, forced prostitution, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and gender discrimination - represent the most pervasive violation of human rights in the world today.

Opening the door on the subject of violence against women has been described as being "like standing at the threshold of an immense dark chamber vibrating with collective anguish, but with the sounds of protest throttled back to a murmur."

When we ask, "Who is responsible for quelling violence in our society?", we know it's not enough to point to governments and say, "Provide more funding…" It's not enough to look to the police and say, "Protect us…" It's not enough to focus on the judicial system and say, "Deliver harsher sentencing…" We must, both individually and collectively, and as peaceable people, stand together to advance an understanding that violence is entirely unacceptable in our society.

We must acknowledge that while women and children suffer, many men are suffering too. We must continue to speak out and to act out, to build coalitions across gender lines, cultural lines, social and economic lines. These lines serve only to emphasize our differences, as opposed to the fundamental thing that establishes our right to equality: our shared humanity.

Governments, and their institutional constructs, have at the very least a moral obligation to uphold the extension of human rights to all people. We must encourage and compel them to do so. We must mark our progress step by step, if not inch by inch. We cannot allow our fear and sorrow for the human condition to silence, disempower or immobilize us. We must continue to honour our vision, and dare to dream that together we can make it a reality.