16 days of activism against gender violence

by Eleanor O. Rosseau

A student at the New Hope Academy in Liberia. / Eleanor Oxholm

In 1991, the first participants of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute (WGLI) at the Rutgers Center for Women’s Global Leadership launched the inaugural 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign.

By spanning from Nov. 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, the campaign was intended to raise local awareness of gender-based violence and facilitate networking among women leaders in the New York area. But with the launch of a worldwide petition aimed at the 1993 United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, the campaign became much more ambitious.

The petition, which was translated into 23 languages and circulated in 124 countries, urged the preparatory committee of the conference to address women’s rights at every level of the proceedings and to officially recognize violence against women (VAW) as a global human rights issue.

Collecting nearly 500,000 signatures by the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference, the petition contributed to an international consciousness of the 16 Days Campaign which exceeded the expectations of the 1991 WGLI Campaign founders.

According to Simone G. Diniz, a Brazilian WGLI graduate, the campaign became a stepping-stone for a major global movement. “In 1991… policy-makers regarded this work as an obscure non-priority that would divert resources from the ‘really important’ issues. The 16 Days Campaign did an extraordinary job in educating the public and governments on the importance of VAW and its relevance to human rights, development and health. Almost two decades later, it is very impressive to see how VAW has been mainstreamed into public opinion with the help of the 16 Days Campaign.”

Everjoice Win, another WGLI campaign founder, recalls, “When we launched the first 16 Days event in Zimbabwe in 1992, I called it 16 Days on the national conscience. And that is precisely what the campaign has become – but on an international scale. From the small group of us that brought the campaign to our own countries, the 16 Days Campaign has now grown to be observed in dozens of countries across the globe. The 16 Days of Activism are about reminding everyone that the world will not know peace, development or justice if women are violated.”

In 2010, organizations around the world mobilized around this year’s theme: “Structures of Violence: Defining the Intersections of Militarism and Violence Against Women.” In the New York area, the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, the Global Fund for Women and Ipas co-hosted two events on Nov. 29: a presentation entitled “Feminist Dialogue on Militarism and Military Intervention” at the Church Center for the United Nations and a candlelight vigil in Dag Hammarskjold Park.

A Toolkit for Action and a calendar of events can be found on the Campaign’s homepage: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu.

Published in RightsNews Volume 29, no. 2, February, 2011.
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