Produced by: (Amplifying civil society voice on GBV coalition members in Somaliland)
16 days activism against gender-based violence is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls. The campaigns runts every year from 25 November to 10 December, United National Assembly has designed by this date as the international day for the elimination of violence against women.
The premise of this day is to raise awareness of the fact that women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence; furthermore, one of the aims of the day is to highlights that the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden, However in 2014, the official theme framed by United secretary general campaign UNiTE to end violence against women was orange for our neighbor.
By the way, it is common know that initiative has United Nation to address and eliminate all forms of violence against women, In Somaliland, each year, for 16 days of activism, governments (MoLSA), local non-governmental organizations, and community participated these day for aims of creating awareness about the gender-based violence.
The international 16 Days of activism campaign focuses on generating an increased awareness on the negative impact that violence and abuse has on women and girls, and the social fabric of our society. The violence in our society is often the symptom of deeper social problems, So government agents, civil society organizations and part of the communities, we need to stand up against violence in general and especially against women and girls.
Global theme of the Year “leave no one behind, end violence against women and girls”, together as Community, non-governmental organization and government agent we should move to fight against violence in Somaliland.
Therefore, the right of women and girls are fundamental human rights which our religion provided and protected. Gender based violence and it’s all in different forms, devalues human right dignity and the self-worth of the survived and victim person, and must be stopped in our Society. If community and relevant stakeholders of the 16 days activism stand up together to safeguard our society against the gender based violence they will find safe environment where everybody will exercise his/her rights.
The main purposes of the campaign are generating an increasing the level of awareness among all Somaliland people and negatively impact of violence against women and girls. For these days it was intended to enhance and increase partnerships between government, civil society organization and the media in an effort to spread the 16 days activism message against violence against women and girls.
in these days civil society organization engage actively with men and boys in the discourse about combating violence in our homes, communities and in the workplace, And they highlight the stories of survivors of gender-based violence and impact of the campaign in these days.In the 16 days activism in generally they emphasize and encourage silent female victims to talk about abuse and ensure that they get help and could find the service and legal providers. Its greatly know that gender based violence against women and girls are common in the IDPs and refuges, likewise, CSOs encourage community to report GBV incident from the community, schools and homes, also they encourage men and boys to talk about abuse and actively discourage abusive behaviors.
GBV incident cases are mostly related to emotionally, physically, or sexually abusive to women and girls, during these 16 days activism, they commonly spread the joint message and conversation on social media, mass media and local news papers
Role of CSOs:
- They link global and local actions to increase worldwide awareness and create opportunities for discussion about the challenges and solution of violence against women and girls
- They raise awareness about issue of violence against women and girls
- They raise their voice to call on all people in all part of the community to take action for eliminating the violence against women and girls
- They play their part and stand up against violence against women and girls
In Somaliland, there is a growing awareness from the government institutions. Local non-government organization and community groups to eliminate violence against women and girls for participating in 16 days activism, there are more needs to be done. Stakeholders of this issue should promote and enhance to reach at the zero-tolerance attitude to violence against women and girls in order to achieve an equal society based on human dignity and peaceful environment. It should enhance the advocacy movement toward approval of laws and policy that will eliminate any violence against women and girls, Community members including traditional, religious leaders, men, boys and women come together to build peace full environment and community free from violence against women and girls.
In 11th, December, 2017, the ministry of labour and social affairs organized a large scale event dedicated and closing to the 16 days activism against gender based violence. This event participated by international organization, local non-government organization and line ministry concerned for this issue of violence against women and girls, and different part of the communities. This event was presented Valuable drama shows that deeply talking about the impact and consequence of violence against women and girls.