16 Days of Activism

by on November 25, 2022 with No Comments

Today is a very important day – the 25th of November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  Today is also the beginning of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, which ends on the 10th of December – the International Human Rights Day.  

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence was started by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and continues to be coordinated each year by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership. It is used as an organising strategy by individuals and organisations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. 

In support of this civil society initiative, the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women campaign calls for global actions to increase awareness, strengthen advocacy efforts, and share knowledge and innovations. 

The global theme for this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, is “UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”. 

Orange has become an instrumental colour to represent reducing violence after the campaign launch 

 “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!  

Today we continue to Orange the world with a message of hope which is why the Northern Beaches Council has produced new banners in Orange and launched their 16 days campaign with the NBDV Network #beachessaysnotoviolence. The banner is hanging at the Manly Town Hall make sure you have a look its huge.

I was honoured to open our very first event at the Manly Forecourt with our team. We had about 50 people come and attend. It was a very powerful day we heard the names of those women and children who have died at the hands of violence. We then placed an orange hand for every women and a white hand for the children and then had a minutes silence to pay respect.  43 women and 4 children lost their lives to domestic violence so far this year. Heartbreaking. The Council are talking about making this much bigger next year which will reach further on the beaches.