16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
November 25 - December 10, 2007

Demanding Implentation, Challenging Obstacles: End Violence Against Women

Since 1991, the 16 Days Campaign has helped to raise awareness about gender violence and has highlighted its effects on women globally. Each year, thousands of activists from all over the world utilize the campaign to further their work to end violence against women. The campaign has celebrated victories gained by women’s rights movements, it has challenged policies and practices that allow women to be targeted for acts of violence, it has called for the protection of people who defend women’s human rights and it has demanded accountability from states, including a commitment to recognize and act upon all forms of violence against women as human rights abuses.
 
In the last decade, activism related to and awareness about the impact and consequences of gender based violence has grown dramatically. A wide spectrum of organizations, networks, and individuals are focusing on gender based violence as a critical issue and are campaigning globally and locally for protection from and prevention of all forms of violence against women (VAW).
                                                                                                                               
While there has been much progress made, challenges still persist that hinder the effectiveness of the work being done by anti-VAW activists and organizations. The 2007 16 Days Campaign dedicates this year’s theme to overcoming those challenges and obstacles in order to gain long overdue results in the struggle to end VAW. In collaboration with others, the 16 Days Campaign seeks to help dismantle obstacles and overcome challenges posed by social attitudes and policies that continue to condone and perpetuate gender based violence.
 
Challenges and obstacles have been identified by activists in all regions of the world, and we have chosen to highlight a few of those here. These can be addressed both as demands to be made on the state or other institutions and as actions that we must take in our own work in order to achieve better results. A few suggestions for focusing advocacy in this year’s campaign include:
 
·         Demanding and securing adequate funding for work against VAW;
·         Calling for greater accountability and political commitment from states to prevent and punish all forms of violence against women in practice, not just in words;
·         Increasing awareness of the impact of violence against women, including engaging in measures to end it by men and boys;
·         Evaluating the impact and effectiveness of work to prevent violence against women;
·         Securing the space for advocacy and defending the defenders of women’s human rights in their work to end gender based violence.
 
The 16 Days Campaign continues to highlight important issues raised in past years, including looking at VAW as a public health crisis, the intersection between HIV/AIDS and VAW, and the protection of women human rights defenders. The campaign will also promote valuable advocacy tools such as key recommendations from the 2006 Secretary General’s study on VAW. More information can be found in this year’s kit, including fact-sheets and information relevant for campaigning!
 
Please see the 2007 Take Action Kit for more details on each of these ideas, including actions tailored especially for the 2007 16 Days Campaign. The Take Action Kit will include:
·         suggested actions and materials for the 2007 campaign: Demanding Implementation, Challenging Obstacles
·         a campaign profile and information about key dates
·         a list of participating organizations and countries
·         a bibliography and resource list
 
Request a 2007 Take Action Kit!
The kit will be available online and in print form in September – contact the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at the address below to request a kit:
 
Center for Women’s Global Leadership
160 Ryders Lane, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8555 USA; Phone: 1-732-932-8782; Fax: 1-732-932-1180; E-mail: cwgl@igc.org; Or to access the kit online, go to: http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html
 
Join the 16 Days movement!
Create or join a community, campus, national or international activity for the 16 Days. Request a Take Action Kit, join the 16 Days listserv, and use past 16 Days International Calendars of Activities (available online) to spark ideas for your activities or to find information about groups in your area. Submit your planned projects to CWGL for posting to the 2007 International Calendar of Activities and become part of the global 16 Days movement.
 
Join the 16 Days electronic discussion!
Join the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence email listserve discussion, which lets activists share work against violence, build partnerships with others worldwide, and develop strategies and themes for the annual 16 Days Campaign.
To join the discussion, visit https://email.rutgers.edu/mailman/listinfo/16days_discussion.
Submit your materials! Help us build a 16 Days Archive!
 
CWGL requests that participants in the 16 Days Campaign – past as well as present – send descriptions of your current or past 16 Days events to the contact information below for posting in the electronic International Calendar of Activities. CWGL would also be pleased to receive other materials, including posters, fliers, photographs, t-shirts, video footage, poems, songs, statements, and reports for the campaign archives. If you have photographs, documents, or other examples of your work that you can send in an electronic version, please do so and we will post it on the website.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership
160 Ryders Lane, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8555 USA; Phone: 1-732-932-8782; Fax: 1-732-932-1180;
 E-mail: cwgl@igc.org; Web: http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu