United Nations in India launches joint advocacy campaign to end violence against women
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The United Nations in India has launched a joint advocacy and communication campaign to end violence against women for the month of November. Part of the Say No- UNiTE to End Violence Against Women, this campaign will bring greater focus on the issue of violence against women and also call for solutions. The campaign will end with the commemoration of the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November.
New Delhi, 5 November 2013: The United Nations has come together to launch a UN advocacy and communication campaign to end violence against women, during November. The campaign aims to increase awareness on violence against women and girls and call for solutions to address it on a priority basis.
The campaign is part of the Secretary General’s Say No-UNiTE to End Violence against Women and Girls campaign, and will be spearheaded by UN Women and the United Nations Gender Team in India.
Commencing with the launch of a social media campaign on 6 November, the campaign will end on 25 November with the United Nations Public Lecture by Ms. Indira Jaising, Additional Solicitor General of the Supreme Court of India.
This will be followed by a joint media briefing by UNICEF and UN Women in collaboration with the Indian Women’s Press Corps on 16 November, highlighting the need to end violence against women and girls.
“In the past year, many progressive reforms and changes have resulted – for example the historic Justice Verma Committee, which informed the subsequent approval by Parliament of the Criminal Amendment Act 2013. But laws by themselves are not the solution - their implementation also matters as does changing mindsets. Violence against women is preventable, not inevitable and this is the central message of this campaign,” says Dr Rebecca Reichmann Tavares, Representative, UN Women’s Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Research by UNFPA focuses on son preference
UNFPA will also release two studies, including one on ‘Masculinity, Son Preference and Intimate Partner Violence in India’ on 11 November.
This will be followed by the release of another research report on ‘Laws and Son Preference in India – A reality check.’ The study based on a review of various laws examines how certain laws, through inherent lacunae or poor application, can directly or indirectly reinforce the deeply entrenched tradition of preferring sons over daughters.
UN Public Lecture on ending violence against women
The United Nations Public Lecture by Indira Jaising, Additional Solicitor General of the Supreme Court of India, on 25 November will seek to further the national debate on ending violence against women. In her lecture, Indira Jaising will touch upon key issues, achievements, challenges and bottlenecks in the race to strengthen legislation to prevent violence against women.
The lecture would be a step forward to identify effective strategies employed by governments, civil society and multilateral organizations in India to expand women’s access to justice and rights.
The lecture is the corner stone of the month-long campaign by the United Nations in November to increase awareness about violence against women.
Social media campaign: Orange Your World
Starting 6 November, a month long social media campaign will commence on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #orangerurworld. The objective of the campaign is to share information on violence against women, encourage engagement on the issue and motivate people to take action.
The social media activities will be implemented by UN Women in collaboration with the social media accounts of UNICEF, UNIC, UNDP and UN Resident Coordinator in India. A live Twitter chat on 20 November from 11 am – 1 pm with UN Women Representative Dr Tavares (@rebeccaunwomen) will take stock of progress on ending violence against women since December 2012.
A dedicated space for videos, web stories and comprehensive resources will be created on the UN and UN Women websites.
For more information:
www.facebook.com/UnitedNationsIndia
See the website of the United Nations in India: www.in.one.un.org