During an exclusive interview with the Leader, Cr Kelly said as a nurse she had on numerous occasions treated women who presented with injuries that were quite likely the result of domestic violence.

"After successive visits one would suspect, but there was always that silence," she said.

She also spoke of a friend who had suffered in silence for ten years before finally leaving an abusive relationship.

Cr Kelly said it was important for women, and especially young girls who were beginning to enter into relationships, to realise they had to make choices about the type of relationships they were willing to accept.

"Young women should be empowered, should feel empowered to say, 'I do not want that in my life, I do not want violence'."

A local resident who works for the United Nations as an advocate for women's rights in Sudan also took the opportunity of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to email the Leader describing what she sees on a day-to-day basis in and around the towns where she works.

The woman, who cannot be named for security reasons wrote:

"It makes me angry to the core to witness on a daily basis women with babies strapped to their backs slaving on farms in the scorching heat."

"Every day I am confronted by the images of women returning home from these farms in the dark, stopping by at lakes to fetch water, carrying buckets on their heads, firewood under their arms, children on their backs and toddlers in tow."

"And after a long hard day in the sun breaking their backs, these women return to their homes to prepare food for their husbands, only to be abused if they do not earn enough to buy food for the day."