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16
Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
November 25 - December 10
Center
for Women's Global Leadership
What is the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign?
The annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign
(November 25 to December 10) has been an organizing strategy by
individuals and groups from around the world to call for the elimination
of all forms of violence against women. Growing out of the Global
Center's first Women's Global Leadership Institute in 1991, the
Campaign links violence against women and human rights, emphasizing
that all forms of violence, whether perpetrated in the public or
private sphere, are a violation of human rights. The dates that
participants chose for the Campaign symbolically make this link:
November 25 marks the International Day Against Violence Against
Women and December 10 is International Human Rights Day. The 16-day
period also highlights other significant dates including December
1, which is World AIDS Day, and December 6 which marks the anniversary
of the Montreal Massacre.
For the past eleven years, over 1, 000 individuals and organizations
from over 100 countries have sponsored activities in their communities
during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, November
25 - December 10, to raise awareness about all forms of violence
against women. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence has
become an annual event in many towns, states and regions. Activists
have used this 16-day period to create a solidarity movement that
raises awareness around gender-based violence as a human rights
abuse. The movement works to ensure better protection for survivors
of violence and calls for the elimination of all forms of violence
against women.
Creating
a Culture that says No to Violence Against Women
Many of the organizations that have been involved in previous
16 Days campaigns, have suggested that this year's campaign activities
explore the intersection of culture and violence against women.
In all regions of the world, culture has been used by individuals
and institutions to support beliefs, norms, practices and institutions
that legitimise and perpetuate violence against women. Although
culture is still not an easy word to define; we can begin by understanding
that culture relates to shared patterns such as values, attitudes,
beliefs, rituals, goals and behaviours. These patterns can be seen
in all societies; members of communities can share similar cultural
practices, times of war can invoke certain attitudes and practices
etc. However, it is important to remember that culture is not static;
it is always changing. There are creative ways to challenge the
cultural patterns in communities, cities and nations. For example,
many cultures offer examples of how violent acts targeted at women
have been changed. No culture is immune to historical and political
change.
During this year's campaign, advocates are encouraged to discuss
and strategize around the link between culture and all forms of
violence against women: violence that women experience in their
homes, in their communities, by the state, by non-state actors,
during times of war and during times of peace. It is important that
we continue to critically explore and challenge the history and
construction of claims that use culture as a justification for violence
against women. We must also examine who has constructed or is constructing
the cultural beliefs that legitimize violence against women and
whose interests are served by these claims. We should question whose
cultural views and values are being privileged and why.
The organizing strategies employed by groups during the Campaign
vary and reflect the region and its current political situation.
We encourage activists to use this 16 day period to raise awareness
in student, local, national and regional communities by coordinating
events such as tribunals, workshops, festivals, etc. By the beginning
of September 2002, the Center for Women's Global Leadership will
have compiled a list of suggested activities for this year's campaign
(available on-line or by contacting the Center for Women's Global
Leadership - see reverse side for contact information). If you have
suggestions you would like to share, please send them to us as soon
as possible. The International Calendar of Activities from all previous
Campaigns can be found on-line at http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu
and is illustrative of the various organizing strategies that groups
have used in the past.
Join the 16 Days electronic discussion!
We invite you to join a new recently launched 16 Days of Activism
against Gender Violence electronic discussion taking place in the
form of a listserv. The discussion will allow activists to collaboratively
develop themes and strategies for the annual 16 Days of Activism
against Gender Violence Campaign. In addition, we can use it to
discuss how groups are raising awareness about gender-based violence
as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international
levels, to uncover and learn from the ways in which activists have
strengthened local work around violence against women, to continually
resurface the link between local and international work to end violence
against women, to share and develop new and effective strategies,
to show the solidarity of women around the world organizing against
violence against women, and to help develop further tools to pressure
governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against
women.
If you are interested in joining the discussion or if you have any
questions, please contact Lisa M. Clarke at the Center for Women's
Global Leadership at lmclarke@rci.rutgers.edu
Join the
16 Days movement!
Become part of an already existing student, community, national
or international activity for the 16 Days or take actions on your
own. Submit your planned activity to us for posting to the International
Calendar of Campaign Activities and become part of the growing global
movement organizing during this time. Your submissions will also
enable the Center to refer other individuals/ organizations that
are interested in your activities to you. Please send a description
of planned activities for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender
Violence to:
Lisa M. Clarke, 16 Days Campaign Coordinator, Center for Women's
Global Leadership,160 Ryders Lane, Rutgers University, New Brunswick,
NJ 08901-8555, USA. Fax: (1-732) 932-1180. E-mail: lmclarke@rci.rutgers.edu
Submit your materials!
Participants in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
Campaign have been instrumental in bringing issues of violence against
women to the forefront in local, national, regional and global arenas.
The strategies employed by groups and activities organized during
the Campaign period continue to be unique and innovative. The Center
asks that all participants of the 16 Days Campaign - past as well
as present participants - send documentation from their events i.e.
posters, pictures, t-shirts, video footage, poems, songs, statements,
reports, etc. to the Center (see contact information below). If
you have photographs, documents, examples of your work that you
can send in an electronic version, please do so and we will post
it on the website.
Get Involved - On-line!
The Center will post all information about the Campaign online
at http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu
Take Action Kit
Contact the Center for Women's Global Leadership
to receive a free copy of the Take Action Kit for the 16 Days Campaign.
The action kit includes:
- a campaign profile
- a description of dates
- a list of participating organizations and countries
- a bibliography and resource list
- a list of suggested activities
- a current Campaign announcement
Center for Women's Global Leadership,160 Ryders Lane, Rutgers University,
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8555, USA. Fax: (1-732) 932-1180. E-mail:
lmclarke@rci.rutgers.edu
Lisa M. Clarke
Center for Women's Global Leadership
Douglass College
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
160 Ryders Lane
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8555 USA
Tel: (1-732)932-8782, x652
Fax: (1-732)932-1180
E-mail: lmclarke@rci.rutgers.edu
Website: http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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