25 November has been marked by women’s and anti-violence activists as a day focussed on the elimination of violence since 1981. In 1999 the United Nations declared 25 November as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW). 25 November also starts 16 Days of Activism on ending violence against women and girls.

 

[box] Julie Oberin, Chair of AWAVA says:

” The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is a reminder that male violence against women is a global, national and local issue and that ending this violence is everyone’s responsibility. It is an opportunity to celebrate how far we have come, to acknowledge and reflect how far there is still to go, and to renew our efforts. Australia has an exciting opportunity with the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children to be a global leader and to really drive the long-term social change needed to address violence against women and girls.

The National Plan has a crucial focus on the importance of primary prevention and recognises gender and other social inequalities that are both a cause and consequence of violence against women and girls. We need governments, the preventing violence against women sector, schools, business, industry, media and communities to join forces and work in partnership, to learn from each other and to share good practices, knowledge and resources, alongside the lessons learnt along the way. We need a long-term, sustainable, comprehensive whole-of-government, whole-of-school, whole-of-community, cross-sector approach to achieve a real reduction in the disturbing levels of violence against women and girls.

IDEVAW, which is supported by the White Ribbon Campaign, provides the ideal opportunity for people to start conversations about how we can really make a difference and to begin to address violence against women and girls in all our communities.

If everyone works together we can end violence against women and girls”[/box]

Read AWAVA’s full media release here