16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence
2017 has been a particularly powerful year for the rights of women and girls. This is thanks, in no small measure, to the popular #MeToo social media campaign, which turned into a global social movement against sexual abuse during the latter part of the year.
On 25 November — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women — the United Nations launched the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. This year’s campaign took the theme of “Leave No One Behind: End Violence Against Women and Girls”, reflecting the core principle of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Senior leaders and staff members of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) shared photos, messages and videos via Facebook and Twitter, all showing their support for the campaign, and reiterating the message from our World Humanitarian Day campaign that women and girls are #NotATarget.
Here is a wrap-up of the campaign:
OCHA’s country and regional offices participated in the #16days campaign
OCHA’s office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo posted a compelling story on Medium, titled Raped and rejected: women face double tragedy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The story focused on women who sacrificed themselves to undergo horrific assault to save the lives of their husbands and children, only to be later abandoned by their family.
Staff members used a special Facebook Live filter, which allowed them to step into the shoes of women and girls affected by abuse, and read out their stories.
Other offices used Twitter to participate in the campaign:
OCHA leaders show support
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, used the Facebook Live filter to share a story of a 15-year-old girl who escaped Boko Haram.
Assistant Secretary-General Ursula Mueller used the Facebook Live filter to share the story of a 16-year-old girl caught in conflict in Iraq:
OCHA used its corporate Twitter account to participate in the campaign:
From UN Women and partners
UN Women and partners run the 16 Days of Activism campaign. UN Women’s Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, wrote 16 blogposts to mark the 16 days, which can be found here.
To mark the campaign, the UN Population Fund published a powerful slideshow of photos of 16 artefacts from real incidents of abuse: A Story of Violence, told in 16 Objects.
Working towards ending violence against women each and every day
One in three women and girls experience violence in their lifetime. In conflict zones the world over, women’s and girls’ bodies become battlegrounds, with rape and sexual violence used to humiliate and dominate. Too often, this goes unpunished.
The #16days campaign ended on Human Rights Day on 10 December. But the work towards ending violence against women doesn’t stop here. Together with our partners, OCHA is ensuring that measures to address gender-based violence are part of every emergency response. Together, we say NO to violence against women and girls.
