16 Days of Activism

The selection of dates is not arbitrary – the campaign ends on International Human Rights Day to highlight that gender-based violence is a fundamental human rights violation that concerns EVERYONE.

During 16 Days of Activism, people around the world unite to raise awareness, challenge discriminatory attitudes, and call for improved laws and services to end gender-based violence for good.  

16 Days of Activism 2024 

On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the goals of which remain unmet, the 2024 global campaign calls for increased accountability, stronger national strategies, and enhanced support for women’s rights organizations which  crucially support victims and ensure accountability.

“Towards 30 years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: UNiTE to End Violence Against Women,” calls on actors across sectors to strengthen their commitment to accelerate progress toward eliminating violence against women and girls. 

NWI and 16 Days

While governments, policy-makers and like-minded stakeholders have not done enough to end to GBV or to hold perpetrators to account especially in conflict settings, women-led human rights organizations, and feminist activists support victims, build safe houses, manage the health implications of GBV, advocate for legal accountability and structural reform.

The Israeli illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories and ongoing war exponentially and increases susceptibility to gender-based and sexual violence and risks women’s safety. Women are crucial to sustaining their communities, sustaining life and fighting for justice and peace. This year, NWI’s 16 Days of Activism campaign shares their stories.  We highlight and amplify women’s stories of resistance, resilience and agency  in the occupied, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and neighboring region. 

What is Gender-Based Violence? 

Gender-based violence (GBV) is any harm – physical, verbal, psychological, structural, or discriminatory - perpetrated against a person or group because of their perceived sex, gender, sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

GBV is underpinned by archaic gender norms, toxic masculinity, and attempts to uphold and exert outdated power structures. Typically understood as violence against women by men, gender-based violence affects anyone who does not fit, or somehow challenges accepted gender norms and expectations. In times of war, gendered bodies become battlefields where gendered sexual violence is too often used as a weapon of war to instill fear and exert power over populations; this is a war crime.

GBV is not normal, nor is it a private matter. Yet a pervasive global culture of discrimination against women and LGBTQI+ people allows it to occur with impunity. Let 2024 be the year this ends. 

Gender-Based Violence Around the world. 

Gender-based violence is one of the most persistent, widespread and global violation of human rights worldwide.  

• The UN estimates that 1 in 3 women around the world have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their life, and 1 in 4 women have experienced intimate partner or domestic violence. 

• This number increases to 1 in 2 and higher for women and girls marginalized by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and other factors.  

• LGBTIQ+ organisation Outright International highlights that gender-based violence is the most prevalent form of violence faced by LGBTIQ+ people.  

• GBV rates increase further in times of crisis, including during the COVID pandemic, as a result of natural disasters and conflict. In war, gender-based violence, and in particular sexual violence, are often used as a weapon of war to create fear, terrorize populations, or as an element of genocide.   

• The World Health Organization emphasizes that 56% of all female homicides are committed by intimate partners or other family members, compared to only 11% of male homicides being perpetrated in the private sphere.   

• State backed and perpetrated gender-based violence is on the rise around the world, a trend increasingly recognized as gender apartheid.

Reflections

• Role of Women Peacebuilders in the Israeli War on Lebanon
• A Personal Reflection on the Palestinian Women's Struggle

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