Take action to Orange your day
The UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, managed by UN Women, has proclaimed every 25th of the month as “Orange Day” – a day to take action to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls.
Initiated and led by the UNiTE campaign Global Youth Network, Orange Day calls upon activists, governments and UN partners to mobilize people and highlight issues relevant to preventing and ending violence against women and girls, not only once a year, on 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), but every month.
In 2015, a new global development agenda was accepted by all countries and is applicable to all. Through its 17 goals, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an agenda for global action for the next 15 years, addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social, and environmental. The Agenda recognizes gender equality and the empowerment of women as a key priority and pledges that “no one will be left behind.”
Goal 5 of the agenda aims to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” and includes specific targets to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. However, all goals are integrated and indivisible, therefore their achievement is also fully dependent on ensuring parallel and interconnected implementation of the efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
2018
In recent years, the voices of survivors and activists, through campaigns such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, #Niunamenos, #NotOneMore, #BalanceTonPorc and others, have reached a crescendo that cannot be silenced any more. Advocates understand that while the names and contexts may differ across geographic locations, women and girls everywhere are experiencing extensive abuse and their stories need to be brought to light.
This is why the UNiTE Campaign’s global advocacy theme this year is: Orange the World: #HearMeToo
Under the theme Orange the World: #HearMeToo, the UNiTE partners are encouraged to host events with local, national, regional and global women’s movements, survivor advocates and women human rights defenders and create opportunities for dialogue between activists, policy-makers and the public. As in previous years, the colour orange will be a key theme unifying all activities, with buildings and landmarks lit and decorated in orange to bring global attention to the initiative.
2017
Recognizing the unifying nature of one of the essential principals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UNiTE Campaign celebrated 2017’s Orange Days, and the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, under the overarching theme “Leave No One Behind: Ending Violence against Women and Girls” while underscoring its commit towards reaching the most underserved first.
For this reason, throughout 2017, the UNiTE campaign highlighted specific Sustainable Development Goals through its Orange Days theme by putting a spotlight on the implications and consequences of violence against women and girls within the most marginalized groups, including refugees, migrants, minorities, indigenous peoples, and populations affected by conflict and natural disasters, amongst others. These actions will culminate in global mobilization to “Leave no one behind” during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign (from 25 November – 10 December).
Orange Day 2017 action themes:
February: Violence Against Women and Girls and Women’s Economic Empowerment
March: Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities
April: Violence against indigenous women and girls
May: Mobilizing resources to end violence against women and girls
June: Violence against women and girl refugees
July: Cyber violence against women
August: Violence against women in humanitarian crises
September: Violence against older women
October: Violence against women in rural communities
November: “Leave No One Behind: Ending Violence against Women and Girls”
2016
Startingin 2016, the Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 global goals that applies to all countries, began to guide global policy and action. These goals include gender equality and women’s empowerment as a key priority and includes specific targets to end violence against women and girls.
In 2016, the UNiTE Campaign marked 25th of every month as “Orange Day,” a day to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women and girls. Orange Days highlighted specific Sustainable Development Goals as they relate to violence against women and girls. The global goals are for everyone, and to fully achieve them, everyone has a role to play in ending gender inequality and violence.
Orange Day 2016 action themes:
February: Break the cycle of poverty and violence against women and girls
March: Health and Violence against Women and Girls
April: “Orange the world: Raise money to end violence against women”
May: Water and Sanitation and Violence against Women and Girls
June: Safe Education for Women and Girls
July: Reduce inequality within and among countries
September: Violence against women and access to food
October: Access to justice and peaceful societies for sustainable development for women and girls
2015
The year 2015 marks the 20-year anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most progressive road map to gender equality. World leaders met in March at the United Nations 59th Commission on the Status of Women and in September at the 70th General Assembly to take stock of the progress made and commit to take action to close the gaps that are holding women and girls back. This year a new Sustainable Development agenda, which for the first time includes specific targets and indicators on ending violence against women, also replaced the Millennium Development Goals.
2015 Orange Day themes
November – Orange the world: End violence against women and girls
October – Ensuring access to services for survivors of violence against women and girls
September – The new global development agenda: what's next for efforts to end violence against women and girls?
August – Get ready to orange the world
July – Orange our Future: Engaging youth to prevent and end violence against women and girls ; Call to Action
June – Where is the money for initiatives to end violence against women and girls?
May – Using technology to end violence against women and girls
April – ‘HeForShes’ say No to violence against women and girls
March – Launch of UNiTE campaign Call for Action for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence
February – Twenty-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action: how far have we come in efforts to end violence against women and girls?
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