[women-rights] 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence
Creating a Culture that Says No to Violence Against Women
November 25-December 10, 2002

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.

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 legitimize 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
behaviors.  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.


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.



16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence

Creating a Culture that Says No to Violence Against Women
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.

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
listserve.  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

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