Today, we are in the midst of the United Nations 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. This international campaign, initiated in 1991 at the inauguration of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute, is coordinated annually by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership.
The actual 16 Days run each year between the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25th and Human Rights Day on December 10th.
During these 16 Days, worldwide, groups and individuals alike, organize to strategize the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
The movement advocates that the most pervasive breach of human rights is violence against women.
Since 2003, the United Nations has spearheaded a call for “global action to increase awareness, galvanize advocacy efforts and share knowledge and innovations to end VAWG once and for all.” In 2008, the UN Secretary-General launched the UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women initiative.
UNiTE is a worldwide effort to join forces among the media, the private sector, young people, women’s organizations, civil society, development actors, governments and the entire United Nations system. It intends to address the violence against women and girls that has become a global pandemic. The UNiTE initiative runs in conjunction with the 16 Days of Activism.
Each year there is a new UNiTE campaign theme, but the color orange is central to the identity. Orange represents a brighter, violence free future for women and girls.
This year’s theme is UNiTE! Activism to End Violence against Women and Girls.
Despite efforts of over 63 joining countries and the entire European Union, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world experienced an escalation of violence against women and girls.
A 2021 report by UN Women found alarming results. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic statements by women found that:
- 1 in 2 women feel unsafe walking alone at night
- 1 in 4 women
- say that household conflicts have become more frequent
- say that they feel more unsafe in their home
- 1 in 5 women feel unsafe walking alone during the day
- 3 in 10 women said they think that Violence Against Women in their community has increased
- 4 in 10 women feel more unsafe in public spaces
- 6 in 10 women felt that sexual harassment in public spaces has worsened
- 7 in 10 women said they think that verbal or physical abuse by a partner has become more common
- 45% of women reported that they or a woman they know has experienced a form of violence against women and girls
Even more unacceptable are the findings from a separate study that was released jointly just last month by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the UN Women.
Some 56% (45,000 out of 81,000)* of the women and girls who were intentionally killed last year, were killed by an intimate partner or other family member. Conversely, it was found that only 11% of men were killed in a private setting. This information led the UN to claim “that home is not a safe place for many women and girls.”
More than 5 women or girls were killed intentionally every hour by someone in their own family in 2021.
This number is suspected to be even higher considering all the victims of femicide that still go uncounted. Many countries have inconsistencies for the criteria and definition of femicide.
Behind every femicide statistic is the story of an individual woman or girl who has been failed. These deaths are preventable—
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous
No woman or girl should fear for her life because of who she is.
UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly
Here’s what you can do to help during the 16 Days of Activism and throughout the entire year.
1. Speak up, speak out – let survivors and activists know that you stand with them
2. Know the issue—and the signs of the different kinds of violence
3. Call out sexual harassment so that it doesn’t become normalized behavior
4. Challenge beliefs on masculinity traits like aggression, strength, and control
5. Fund women’s organizations whether they are local, national, or worldwide
6. Call for better responses and services like shelters, hotlines, counseling and support services
7. Demand more data about the spike in gender-based violence
8. Push for stronger laws to prevent and eliminate violence, harassment, threats, intimidation and discrimination against women human rights defenders and women’s rights advocates and activists
9. Support women’s leadership in decision making roles
10. Build solidarity with other movements
* The estimate of 45,000 female intimate partner/family-related homicides in 2021 is based on available data from 103 countries and territories. (Press release: Women and girls are more at risk to be killed at home, new UNODC and UN Women report on femicide shows, November 23, 2022)
