16 Blogs for 16 days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that kicks off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. Read more here.

Over the 16 Days Reclaim the Agenda will be sharing Blogs from various organisations and campaigns on different topics relating to Gender Based Violence. We also have a programme of events with workshops and webinars and our Reclaim the Night march and rally taking place on 30 November.

We have seen some positive movement recently with the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy launched, and the implementation of Domestic Abuse Safe leave expected in the near future. However other areas are not so advanced with RSE provision facing a ‘mini inquiry’ despite the law changing 5 years ago, and the 2019 Gillen Review recommendations far from fully implemented.

Since last year’s 16 Days we have seen another 6 women murdered, with the main suspect in each case a man. We have also had growing concerns about spiking and recent string of attacks in Derry City and Strabane District Council area. In the twelve months to July 2024 there were 22,403 VAWG offences recorded by the PSNI, who have now adopted a national counter-terror approach to tackling VAWG in their updated action plan.

Legislation and action plans alone cannot tackle gender based violence. We need education, not only comprehensive RSE but also training for the public sector and criminal justice system, and community education to drive cultural change. We need the support organisations to be properly resourced and funded, on multi year budgets and accross the region. We need activism that is going to go far beyond the 16 days where we all play our part to end gender based violence and build a truly inclusive and peaceful community.