16 Days of Activism

The 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign that started in 1991 by the Women’s Global Leadership Institute.  The timeframe of November 25th to December 10th was chosen because it marks significant dates. November 25th is International Day of Violence against Women and December 10th is International Human Rights day.  Other significant dates occurring during this period include November 29th; International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1st; World AIDS Day, December 3rd; International Day of Persons with Disabilities and December 6th; the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, commemorating 14 women who were gunned down at their college.

Violence against Women is a Serious Global Problem

Around the world at least one in every three woman has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Every year, violence in the home and the community devastates the lives of millions of women. Gender-based violence kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 44 as cancer, and its toll on women's health surpasses that of traffic accidents and malaria combined (WHO). Violence against women is rooted in a global culture of discrimination that denies women equal rights with men.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a worldwide problem, though the scourge is particularly difficult to eradicate in Africa, where an unhealthy mix of tradition, inequality and even ignorance conspires against women. Add HIV and AIDS into this mix and women are fighting not only discrimination and physical abuse, but also a disease that will more than likely kill them. Despite numerous treaties, declarations and interventions from rights groups and NGOs, rape is still widespread - and often goes unreported. One of the most common types of violence against women is performed by a husband or male partner, not an unknown assailant. A comprehensive solution to the problem should include not only better education and stricter law enforcement (including more prosecutions for the crime) but also the awakening of women to take control of their bodies and lives. GBV is never merely a ‘family matter’. It is a mark on all of society.

What is Gender-based Violence (GBV)?

GBV can include physical, sexual, economic or psychological abuse and shows no discrimination to boundaries of age, race, religion, wealth or geography.  The Declaration specifies that it is not limited to physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the general community, including battering, sexual abuse of children, dowry-related violence, rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women, forced prostitution and violence perpetrated or condoned by the State.

The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (General Assembly resolution 48/104) states that "violence against women means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life." (Article 1) It further asserts that States have an obligation to " exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons." (Article 4-c)

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

The theme for this year, 2010, during 16 Days of Activism is: 

Defining the Intersections of Militarism and Violence against Women 

There is a need to address militaristic beliefs in all of our societies. Militarism has material and institutional, as well as cultural and psychological consequences that are more difficult to measure. Wars, internal conflicts, and violent repressions of political and social justice movements – all of which are a result of a culture of militarism – have a particular and often disproportionate impact on women. Rape is used as a tactic of war to drive fear and to humiliate women and their communities. But sexual violence is just one form of violence that women and girls suffer throughout the continuum of violence before, during and after conflict has seemingly ended. Militarism neither ends nor begins in warzones, nor does it confine itself to the public sphere. The families of militarized men and women may experience violence in their homes where ‘war crimes’ and armed domestic violence are hidden from public view, and women who serve in the military are just as easily victims of sexual assault by their fellow soldiers. Even places that are not experiencing conflict directly are not exempt from militarism: they send troops, produce and sell weapons, and invest in the militaries of foreign governments rather than supporting development efforts. These governments have skewed priorities, spending huge percentages of their budgets on the military and arms rather than on social services, such as education, health care, job security, and development that would yield real security for women. For these reasons, the international theme during the 2010 16 Days Campaign will be:

Structures of Violence: Defining the Intersections of Militarism and Violence against Women

SADC Secretariat’s Call to Action

Over the next 16 days, we at the SADC Gender Unit will share information on each of our Member States; Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  We will highlight the current situation in each country and review their challenges and progress made to ending violence against women and girls.  Our daily posts will also be a call to action for each of the SADC Member States to focus on their areas of improvement to reach our target to reduce gender-based violence by half by 2015.

Together we can make a difference to end gender violence.

The targets set out in the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development (2008) include the commitments that SADC Member States:

  • Enact and enforce legislation prohibiting all forms of gender-based violence by 2015;
  • Ensure that perpetrators of all forms of gender-based violence, including femicide, sexual harassment, and female genital mutilation are brought to justice by a court of competent jurisdiction;
  • Take measures to protect women, men, girls and boys against HIV and AIDS infection and other sexually transmitted infections contracted as a result of any sexual violation;
  • Ensure that all health facilities in their territories administer Post Exposure Prophylaxis to prevent the onset of sexually transmitted infections;                 
  • Eradicate harmful traditional norms, including social, economic, cultural and political practices and religious beliefs which legitimize and exacerbate the persistence and tolerance of gender-based violence;
  • Enact and adopt specific legislative provisions by 2010 to prevent human trafficking;
  • Introduce a composite index for measuring the reduction in gender-based violence; and
  • Allocate the necessary resources to ensure the implementation and sustainability of the programmes set out in the Protocol under Article 20.