PRB

(November 2012) The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights, and to emphasize that such violence is a human rights violation.

The theme for 2012 continues the theme from 2011, “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women”; describes the complex relationship between peace, home and the world; and recognizes the many spaces where militarism influences our lives.

As part of a multiyear campaign theme on the intersections of militarism and violence against women, this year’s 16 Days Campaign has three subthemes:

• Sexual and gender-based violence committed by state agents, particularly the police or military
• Proliferation of small arms and their role in domestic violence
• Sexual violence in and after conflict

For more information on the 16 Days of Activism and to access a Take Action kit, see: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/.