16 days of activism

I’M rising during the 16 days of activism, to eliminate gender violence and the gender inequalities that exist in my community.

What is 16 days of activism against gender-based violence? Simple interpretation would be; an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls which was mooted by a group of 23 women in 1991 at Rutgers University, New Jersey,

USA, including our very own human rights activist, Shamima Ali who was part of the original group. The 23 participants came from different countries in all of the world’s regions and were drawn from a variety of fields — lawyers, policy makers, teachers, health care workers, researchers, journalists, and activists. These women were local civil society leaders with at least two years of experience in women’s organising who were also interested in building the global women’s human rights movement.

This campaign runs every year from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to December 10, Human Rights Day. The International Day Against Violence Against Women was first declared in 1981 by the first Feminist Encuentro for Latin America and the Caribbean to commemorate the violent assassination of the Mirabal sisters on that date in 1960 by the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.

The theme of the 2020 Campaign is “UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence Against Women campaign”. You can contextualise it in your own settings by organising a march with women’s and men’s groups at night on streets reclaiming it that it is safe for women to walk alone at night, candlelight vigil talks, engaging men in your communities to openly discuss issues affecting women and girls, talk to your members of church or village.

Or even advocate through use of mainstream media and social media. The next woman to be raped might be someone you love.

Help us stop the violence. You may liaise with your nearest FWCC branch to advise you on what you can do during the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaign.

JIOJI MASIVESI CAKACAKA Tadra- Votualevu, Nadi