UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Conservative Muslim, Roman Catholic and liberal Western nations approved a U.N. blueprint to combat violence against women and girls, ignoring strong objections from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claiming that it clashed with Islamic principles and sought to destroy the family.

After two weeks of tough and often contentious negotiations, 131 countries joined consensus Friday, March 15, in a compromise on the 17-page document that Michelle Bachelet, the head of the U.N. women’s agency, called historic because it sets global standards for action to prevent and end “one of the gravest violations of human rights in the world, the violence that is committed against women and girls.”

The final text urges all countries “to strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and girls and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition and religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination.”