Every year on 25 November, UNESCO marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This day was first commemorated in 1999 following a proclamation from the UN General Assembly.
On Friday, 22 November, UNESCO organized an event to launch the publication Reporting on Violence Against Women and Girls: a Handbook for Journalists. The media is a powerful tool to convey messages of social change, and media professionals have a great responsibility to communicate comprehensively and ethically on gender-based violence. That is why UNESCO joins forces with its partners to provide journalists from around the world with the resources and know how to become firm allies in the struggle for gender equality.
On Monday, 25 November, H.E. Mr José Antonio Rodriguez, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to UNESCO, performed a song he specifically wrote for this day, Ella solo dijo no, which talks about gender disparities and says no to discrimination. UNESCO Secretariat and Members States were then invited to write down in their own language their commitment to ending gender-based violence. The initiative was introduced by the President of the 40th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO, H.E. Mr Altay Cengizer, and UNESCO’s Director for Gender Equality, Ms Saniye Gülser Corat.
As per practice, UNESCO also held an Orange Zone at its Headquarters in order to raise awareness among staff members and visitors. A social media campaign showing statistics related to intimate partner/family-related homicide of women (femicide) around the world will mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, from 25 November until 10 December (Human Rights Day).
For people looking to get involved, UNESCO encourages everyone to share our videos and post their own photos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by including the hashtags #OrangeTheWorld #25Nov #IDEVAW. More information on the social campaign can be found here.
If you want to know more about UNESCO’s action on preventing Violence against Women, please click here.
To see the pictures of the Day, please click here.