International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

This year, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) fell on Monday, November 25th and focused on the theme of Standing up to Rape.

Chinyere Eyoh, Executive Director of Sexual Offences Awareness and Victims Rehabilitation Initiative (SOAR), Nigeria, and UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) grantee, speaks at the official commemoration of the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women "Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape".

Chinyere Eyoh, Executive Director of Sexual Offences Awareness and Victims Rehabilitation Initiative (SOAR), Nigeria, and UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UNTF) grantee, speaks at the official commemoration of the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape”. (UN Photo by Evan Schneider)

UN Women marked this occasion through the “Generation Equality” awareness-raising campaign which commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, with the theme of “Generation Equality Stands Against Rape.” This campaign involves highlighting survivor stories through social media, the “16 ways to Stand Against Rape” sub-campaign, and the hashtag #OrangeTheWorld.

Some of the 16 ways to stand against rape, which will be highlighted by UN Women and Generation Equality social media, are redefining masculinity, ending victim blaming, and ending immunity for those who commit sex crimes.

Through UN Women, the “Orange the World” campaign is utilizing the hashtags #OrangeTheWorld and #HearMeToo, to promote a violence free future. Along with social media engagement, buildings across the globe will be “oranged out” in order to raise awareness regarding the campaign.

We are getting involved too! The Congregations of St. Joseph NGO at the United Nations is working with the NGO Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons (CSTIP) to contribute to the 16 Days of Action Social Media Campaign, working to raise awareness for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The campaign began with IDEVAW on November 25th and runs until Human Rights Day on December 10th. It will take place largely on Twitter and Facebook, so please follow @NGOCSTIP on Twitter and NGO Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons on Facebook.

The twitter campaign will follow the UN Women themes of “Orange the World” and “Generation Equality Stands Against Rape” while also having various themed days including poverty and homelessness as a vulnerability to trafficking/exploitation; armed conflict: sexual violence/exploitation/slavery; systems failures: healthcare, foster care involvement, and support for youth at the margins as key part of prevention.

The final day of the campaign, December 10th, will wrap up with a Twitter chat from 12:30 to 1:30pm EST.

To get involved please Tweet with these Hashtags: #16Days #EndGBV #ListentoSurvivors #OrangeTheWorld #EndTrafficking #NGOCSTIP, follow CSTIP on Twitter, and comment on and share the campaign’s posts.