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 civil society led campaign. It commences on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day, highlighting that violence against women is the most pervasive breach of human rights worldwide. The campaign was launched by activists at the inaugural Women's Global Leadership Institute in 1991, and has since mobilized individuals and organizations, including the United Nations and partners worldwide to advocate for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
The 16 Days of Activism for this year are specially relevant considering the world approaches the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2025 – a visionary blueprint for achieving gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights everywhere.
Under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women initiative (UNiTE) calls for global action to increase awareness, galvanize advocacy efforts and share knowledge and innovations to end VAWG once and for all. Launched in 2008, UNiTE is a multi-year advocacy effort aimed at preventing and eliminating VAWG around the world. UNiTE calls on governments, development actors, civil society, women’s rights organizations, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system to collaborate in addressing violence against women and girls.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s designation of November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in memory of the Mirabal sisters, who were brutally assassinated on this day in 1960. In 2024, women and girls continue to be murdered because of their gender.
As the global community approaches the 30th anniversary review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and following the 2023 SDG Summit’s call for accelerated progress toward achieving the 2030 Agenda, violence against women and girls (VAWG) remains alarmingly prevalent across private and public spaces.
Every 10 minutes, a woman is killed. In 2024, global campaign for 16 Days of Activism “#NoExcuse. UNiTE to End Violence against Women” focuses on this alarming statistics and femicide.
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.
Violence against women and girls remains a pervasive challenge across the Europe and Central Asia region, deeply embedded in longstanding gender power imbalances, patriarchal values, and structural inequalities. While progress has been made in normative frameworks to address VAWG, it remains widespread in various forms due to persistent gender power imbalances, patriarchal norms and structural inequalities. VAWG occurs in domestic settings, often perpetrated by current or former partners, but also happens in public spaces, workplaces, digital environments and political arenas. The impact on women's physical, emotional and social well-being is profound, discouraging them from seeking power, speaking out and participating in decision-making. The war in Ukraine, as well as existing protracted crisis across the region and current geopolitical tensions across Europe and Central, increases the risk of VAWG and exacerbates it as a consequence of violence, displacement and vulnerabilities derived from conflict, including conflict related sexual violence. Countries in the region have prioritized eliminating VAWG, with efforts including legal and policy reforms, capacity building for VAWG response, improved support services and prevention activities. These efforts align with the Istanbul Convention, even among non-signatory countries. However, interventions often focus narrowly on domestic violence, overlooking other forms of VAWG, including femicide.
Femicide - the killing of women and girls due to gender - represents the most extreme and preventable form of violence against women, which is rooted in harmful norms, stereotypes, and the normalization of violence, and demands urgent attention.
Violence against women and girls and femicide can be prevented, and we now know more than ever about what truly works. Approaches that involve the whole government, the entire community, and provide specific funding for women’s rights organizations are the most effective in ending this violence. These approaches should focus on providing survivors with all-encompassing support, fair and gender-sensitive policing and justice systems, and efforts to prevent violence from happening in the first place. To address the root causes of violence, we need to reshape harmful ideas about masculinity, challenge unfair social norms, and remove structural inequalities.
Every effort invested in preventing violence against women is a step towards a safer, more equal, and prosperous world.
Op-Ed
Op-Ed: Every 10 Minutes: The Timeline of a Broken Promise
By: Belén Sanz Luque, Regional Director, UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia Read more
Events

Launch of #HearHerStory Regional social media campaign with influencers in Uzbekistan
Join us to learn more about importance of influencers engagement and support of awareness raising campaigns to end violence against women. Read more
#HearHerStory Regional social media campaign
Speaking out against violence and sharing survivor stories shines a critical spotlight on this issue, helping to dismantle the norms that normalize and perpetuate violence. By encouraging influencers, communities, and advocates to share such stories, #HearHerStory creates a platform for collective accountability. Every story shared is a call to action, inspiring individuals, communities, and institutions to recognize early warning signs, intervene, and support survivors before violence escalates. Moreover, amplifying the voices of survivors and advocates highlights systemic gaps—such as inadequate protection measures or insufficient support services—that need to be addressed to safeguard women's lives.
This shared dialogue fosters societal rejection of violence, strengthens solidarity, and drives the cultural and institutional changes necessary to prevent violence in all its forms, including femicide. This approach not only raises awareness but also serves as a powerful tool for prevention of femicide - the most extreme and irreversible form of GBV, which is often the tragic endpoint of an escalating cycle of violence.
Every story shared is a call to action, inspiring individuals, communities, and institutions to recognize early warning signs, intervene, and support survivors before violence escalates. Moreover, amplifying the voices of survivors and advocates highlights systemic gaps—such as inadequate protection measures or insufficient support services—that need to be addressed to safeguard women's lives. Join the campaign!
Stories
Explainers
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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Join the campaign
Get started today by sharing visuals, messaging, and more from our 16 Days social media package.
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