16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: ActionAid urges governments to end all forms of femicide.

ActionAid International joins feminist movements and organisations to mark the global 16 Days Campaign from November 25- December 10. The campaign will begin with a day of solidarity with Iran, followed by a virtual rally to end femicide.

This year, the campaign continues with its theme of #EndingFemincide by raising awareness of all forms of gender-related killings of women and girls and calls for legally binding accountability instruments applicable to businesses and corporations whose operations propagate gender-based violence. 

ActionAid, in unison with country offices, partners, and feminist movements, will support the inclusive convergence of voices and global activities to demand urgent action and accountability to end femicide and all forms of violence against women. Violence against women is a worldwide pandemic that connects to multiple ongoing global crises and demands urgent action. The campaign aims to pressure governments to introduce and tighten laws to eliminate violence against women.

New UN reports reveal that an intimate partner or relative killed approximately 45,000 women and girls in 2021. This alarming figure means that more than five women and girls were killed every hour by a family member. The report also indicated that African women and girls are at a high risk of gender-related killings by family members.

Wangari Kinoti, Global Women’s Rights and Feminist Alternatives Lead, ActionAid International, said:

“Eliminating femicide and other forms of gender-based violence requires transformative structural shifts anchored in cross-movement and cross-issue organizing. This cannot be done in a day or even 16 days! Our collective efforts are required all year round to protect, respect, and advance the rights of women and girls. We are calling on allies, feminists, partners, and friends to tweet their photo wearing the colour purple and holding up a sign with the hashtag #EndFemicide and amplify femicide awareness.”

To contact the ActionAid press office email our team. 

Notes to Editor

ActionAid joins communities at large, organisations, and movements at all levels to unite and sign the petition calling on the United Nations to declare December 6 -as the International Day to End femicide.

On December 9, ActionAid will host a Global dialogue on the theme of Gender Based Violence, Care, and Decent Work in the Context of Multiple Crises. The dialogue will:

• Highlight the interconnections of gender-based violence and the multiple ongoing crises and explore collective visions of feminist and just alternatives
• Garner support and demand for accountability on global women’s rights commitments and treaties at multiple levels
• Raise awareness on the importance of legally binding accountability instruments to ensure the realization of human rights by business entities and various private and public institutions that are breeding grounds for women’s rights violations
• Explore strategies for reparations, especially for gender-based violence and slavery survivors, in the context of interconnected crises.  

About ActionAid

ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 15 million people living in more than 40 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.