Category Archives: 16 Day Campaign to end violence against women and girls

Orange YOUR Neighbourhood – End Violence Against Women

Orange your neighbourhood

To mark the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women and the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, the United Nations Secretary- General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women invites you to    “Orange your Neighbourhood”

Orange the World in 16 days

From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world.

This year, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women invites you to “Orange YOUR Neighbourhood.” Take the UNiTE campaign to local streets, shops and businesses, and organize “Orange Events” in your own neighbourhoods between 25 November and 10 December 2014.

Color your neighborhood orange November 25 to December 10, 2014 – End Violence Against Women!

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign which takes place each year, and runs from 25 November, (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), to 10 December (Human Rights Day).

In 2013, the UNiTE campaign launched a global call for action to “Orange the World in 16 Days.” UN entities, civil society organizations and individuals across the world led an array of creative and highly visible events in over 50 countries, which drew attention to the issue and created opportunities for discussion around current initiatives and solutions. The initiative aimed to create the symbolic image of a world free from violence against women and girls. The colour orange was a uniting theme which ran through all events as one of the official colours of the UNiTE campaign, and as a bright and optimistic colour, representative of a world free from violence

Unite to end Violence

 

Good Shepherd NGO Representatives New York and Geneva – ending violence against women and girls

VAW 1 20`13Good Shepherd NGO Representatives to the United Nations in New York (Winifred) and Geneva (Hedwig Joehl) unite with our partners around the world to end violence against women and girls. In January 2013 we published a report of our work in 24 countries. Respondents from Egypt, India and Myanmar all reported that an “environment that easily accepts acts of Violence against women, that normalizes the fact that women are beaten, and that considers women inferior to men” pose a challenge to introducing concepts of gender equality and women’s rights. Read more English  French  Spanish

For the 16 Days of Activism against Gender based violence see 16days2013 and #orangeurworld with actions to end violence against women and girls!

Share with us what you are doing for the 16 days of activism. Orange Good Shepherd world, your Twitter account and Facebook page.

Working to end violence against women and girls every day!

EU Countries – a good resource for a discussion on Violence Against Women in your country!

clip_image002[Brussels, 15 November 2013] The European Women’s Lobby is pleased to introduce its latest publication Women’s Watch 2012-2013, a feminist overview of women’s rights and gender equality in 30 European countries.

This publication, available in English and French, is the first of its kind – a genuinely feminist appraisal of the situation on the ground in 30 European countries with regards to women’s rights and gender equality, judged by the yardstick of the European Women’s Lobby’s ideals. The Women’s Watch report is a snapshot of the situation during a two year period (2012-2013) and looks both at legislation and statistical data with 30 very short country pages.

The report looks at women’s situation and gender equality in three main areas: women in decision-making, women’s economic independence and care responsibilities, and violence against women and women’s sexual and reproductive rights, while also looking at the links between those areas.

With European parliamentary elections and a newly appointed European Commission coming up in 2014, the EWL, the largest umbrella organisation of women’s NGO in Europe, urges decision-makers at all levels to take into account the findings of this Women’s Watch report and to use them as a tool for change towards full equality between women and men, in all spheres of life.

Main Report Findings:

Women in decision making
Women are increasingly visible in elected office, however when it comes to real positions of decision making power; heads of political parties, senior ministries, positions on corporate boards, women disappear. The report also sees that the incremental approach to participation in decision-making without binding measures has been effective in some countries, but it concludes that this has taken decades and that as European elections approach there is no more time to waste: parity works, let’s implement it!

Women’s economic independence and care responsibilities
The report observes that the crisis and austerity policies are potentially jeopardising decades of progress towards gender equality. Women’s employment rates had been growing steadily but have stalled in the last year and the quality of women’s work is decreasing. The gender pay and pensions gap are persistent and are one facet of the impact of provision of care places for children and for the elderly on women’s lives and choices. Therefore the report demands a multi-layered approach that focuses on equality in paid and unpaid work between women and men and on the promotion of women’s economic independence.

Violence against women and women’s sexual and reproductive rights
There is still a high discrepancy between legislations addressing violence against women throughout Europe, therefore creating inequalities between women in terms of protection from violence. Violence against women also remains invisible because of the lack of data, at European and national level. This is why the EWL is calling for a European Strategy and Year to raise awareness and develop consistent action to end this pervasive violation of women’s rights. In terms of women’s sexual and reproductive rights, the report shows that the right to abortion is still not granted everywhere in Europe, and that there is an obvious lack of sexuality education, which is instrumental for achieving equality between men and women.

With European parliamentary elections and a newly appointed European Commission on the agenda in 2014, the EWL, the largest women’s NGO umbrella organisation in Europe, urges decision-makers at all levels to take into account the findings of this Women’s Watch report and to use them as a tool for change towards full equality between women and men, in all spheres of life, including public policies.

To download the Women’s Watch in PDF format, click here

Women in decision-making (ENG/FR)

Women’s economic independence and care responsibilities (ENG/FR)

Violence against women and women’s sexual and reproductive rights (ENG/FR)

For country specific pages, please click on the country Austria – Belgium – Bulgaria – Croatia –Cyprus – Czech Republic – Denmark – Estonia – Finland – France – FYROM – Germany– Greece –Hungary – Ireland – Italy– Latvia– Lithuania – Luxembourg – Malta – Netherlands – Poland – Portugal– Romania – Slovakia– Slovenia – Spain – Sweden – Turkey – United Kingdom

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A great G+ hangout on the issue of ‘DEMAND’

Emily Pasnak-Lapchick G+ Hangout addressing DEMAND.  This is a one hour discussion, excellently done and very informative. Emily Pasnak-Lapchick of UNICEF USA leads the discussion.  Maybe you will consider using it as part of an action plan for your 16 day campaign to end violence against women. Have a discussion  ‘Ending DEMAND is ending Violence.’

16 Day of Activism Against Gender Based Violence November 25 to December 10

16 daysThe theme for 2013 is ‘From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women!’  Informative materials are available at Click here in  العربية,Bahasa Indonesia, Bosanski, Български,中文 , Deutsch, English, Español,Français (Côted’Ivoire), Français (Tunisia), Íslenska, Italiano, Kalenjin,ភាសាខ្មែរ, Latvija, Nederlands, Polski,Portugués, Română, русский,Slovenščina, Srpski, Svenska,             Türkçe,украї́нська мо́ва, Xhosa.

The campaign emphasizes that women’s rights are human rights and acknowledges the role of patriarchal systems that embody harmful traditions and legal policies that normalize violences against women, and deny women their rights to a life of dignity.

The normalization of violence was a point that we addressed in our booklet ‘Ending Violence Against Women and Girls’  See page 7Ending Violence 34 “Some respondents reported that in their respective cultures, it is common for physical or even sexual violence to be committed against a woman or girl as punishment, for a crime as defined by the perpetrator. To make matters worse, the reality is that many women and girls suffering from acts of violence accept this treatment either due to cultural or societal pressure, or simply out of a lack of knowledge of their human right to live free of such violence. For instance, in societies with traditional gender roles and attitudes toward marriage and divorce, it may be more difficult to leave a partner even if violent, thus women continue to endure ongoing abuse.  Respondents from Egypt, India, and Myanmar all reported that an “environment that easily accepts acts of violence against women, that normalizes the fact that women are beaten, and that considers women inferior to men” poses a challenge to introducing concepts of gender equality and women’s rights.

Two respondents from Uruguay and Venezuela, identified ‘Macho culture’ as a catalyst for violence against women, and a hindrance to achieving gender equality. Macho culture, which takes on different meanings depending on the culture, is problematic in that it puts pressure on men to dominate and exert control over women, in order to affirm their masculinity, even if it requires the use of violence.”

See French ‘Mettre fin à la violence faite aux femmes et aux filles‘

See Spanish ‘Poner fin a la violencia contra las niñas y las mujeres‘

See Chinese     終止對女孩和婦人的暴力 全球善牧24 個國家的服務調查

Follow what is happening on Facebook and use Twitter handles @16DaysCampaign; @CWGLR Rutgers and hashtag #16days

There is a 16 days Take Action Kit Here in multiple languages.  There is a Brochure, 5 Fact Sheets, Information on CSW 58, Suggested Grant Proposal Guidelines, Sample Social Media Posts and Logos.

Find your logo here

16_days_logo_english 16_days_logo_french 16dayslogo_amharic16_days_logo_filipino16_days_logo_spanish

Good Shepherd Lebanon promoting the 16 Days Campaign of Activism to End Violence Against Women and Girls

Georgette 2 Georgette Tannoury, NGO Regional Designate to the Economic and   Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA) in Beirut shares with us key messages endorsed by Muslim and Christian Religious leaders in Lebanon on the occasion of the “International 16 Days Campaign of Activism to End Violence Against Women (VAW) and Girls” See  Press_Release-Eng  This initiative is led by the ‘Resource Center for Gender Equality” ABAAD  and is supported by a number of NGO’s including Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) with whom we collaborate in New York.

“Thus, this campaign comes to build on ABAAD existing multi-dimensional strategy of using positive psychology in addressing men and religious leaders in Lebanon to end VAW. In other words, it continues ABAAD’s use of positive psychology to inspire change and raise the awareness of the public. This will lead to true social justice and respect for human rights”