The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. The 16 Days of Activism campaign is commemorated each year from 25 November to 10 December across the world, to also mark the following days: 25 November (International Day for elimination of Violence Against Women); 1 December (International AIDS Day), 3 December (International Day for the Disabled) and 10 December (International Human Rights Day).The dates November 25, International Day against Violence against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day, were chosen in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights.
The 16 Days Campaign has been used as an organizing strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by:
- raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels
- strengthening local work around violence against women
- establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women
- providing a forum in which organizers can develop and share new and effective strategies
- demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world organizing against violence against women
- creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women
The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is being celebrated this year, which is a historic moment, recognizing the past six decades of work to secure the conventions and treaties that make up the human rights framework. The principles of the declaration also gave legitimacy to activists around the world who were calling for the realization of universal human rights. Over the past 60 years, women have created groundbreaking global and local efforts to challenge gender inequality and feminist approaches to human rights are being developed and used around the world. Women’s advocacy has brought about pioneering change in areas such as education, health, law, and political participation – and, in interpretations of the human rights framework itself. The global frameworks for realizing women’s rights have been spelled out in the Women’s Convention (CEDAW), and in documents from other UN processes, such as the Vienna Human Rights Declaration, the Cairo Programme of Action, the Beijing Platform for Action, the Millennium Development Goals, and the World Summit. Women have successfully demanded state political will to create meaningful change, but the implementation and resources to fulfill these promises are still lacking.
EVAW Alliance
In Pakistan, various stakeholders have been actively involved, at different levels, in efforts to reduce violence against women through service delivery, policy advocacy, research etc; and it is envisaged that effective coordination between the stakeholders will lead to stronger impact.
Keeping in line with its objective to reduce violence against women, UNIFEM Pakistan launched EVAW alliance to mark 16 Days of Activism against gender based violence, 2007, with the aim to end violence all forms of violence against women through: i) strengthening coordination between stakeholders working on violence against women and ii) identification of common areas of intervention.
Objectives of the Joint Event
Recognizing that the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign provides an opportunity to bring global activism around women’s rights to the forefront of the celebration of UDHR60 on December 10 2008, EVAW Alliance is organizing a seminar to celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration and to honor decades of landmark women’s rights advocacy.
Keeping in line with the theme for this year Human Rights for Women: Human Rights for All: UDHR 60; the objectives of the seminar are to:
· Highlight human rights challenges facing women in Pakistan
· Celebrate the leadership of women in defending human rights