In Focus: 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

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The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that begins on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

Led by civil society, the campaign is supported by the United Nations through the Secretary General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women initiative. This year, the UN marks the 16 Days under the theme “UNiTE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”.

Violence against women and girls remains the most pervasive human rights violation around the world. Already heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, its prevalence is further increased by the intersecting crises of climate change, global conflict, and economic instability.

Globally, an estimated 736 million women — almost one in three — have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their lives.

Against this setting, a backlash against women’s rights is underway around the world. Anti-feminist movements are on the rise, attacks against women human rights defenders and activists are up, regressive new laws are exacerbating impunity for perpetrators of gender-based violence, and the legal status of women’s rights is increasingly imperiled in many countries.

That is why, this 16 Days, we urge everyone to call on leaders worldwide to increase investments in preventing violence from happening in the first place.

Every effort invested in preventing violence against women is a step towards a safer, more equal, and prosperous world.

 

 

 

Why funding women’s organizations is key in preventing violence against women

Women's rights organizations are essential in tackling gender-based violence and driving progress toward a more equitable and violence-free world for women and girls. Despite the critical role of feminist activism to end violence against women, there has been a surge in anti-rights movements and backlash against women human rights defenders globally.

Here are four reasons why funding women’s organizations is essential for ending violence against women and girls.

 

 

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See our coverage of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence from previous years: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011