In a rare public speech Wednesday, first lady Melania Trump called for the international community to stand up against violence toward women and children and declared the need for promoting women's empowerment.

"Together, we must declare that the era of allowing the brutality against women and children is over while affirming that the time for empowering women around the world is now," Trump said at the State Department's International Women of Courage Award winners in Washington.

"Wherever women are diminished, the entire world is diminished with them. However, wherever women are empowered, towns and villages, schools and economies, are empowered and together, we are all made strong with them."