16 Days of Activism Across Asia and the Pacific

Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC) ran their annual 16 Days campaign centred on empowering their followers to speak out against gender-based violence. Throughout the campaign, they have been sharing messages on their socials to educate the community on 16 ways in which they can help end violence in their communities. These messages have ranged from advice on how to support women and girls who disclose experiences of violence to educating men and boys about gender equality and healthy masculinity.  

Their education initiative extended to their presence at the ‘Non-violence Against Women and Girls for Economic and Social Justice’ event. From their booth, GADC shared leaflets highlighting success stories from their women’s economic empowerment program, art from their online 16 Days campaign and booklets on feminist leadership.  

GADC also held a white ribbon campaign in Oral district, Kompong Speu province under the theme ‘Promoting Transformative Society to End all forms of Violence Against Diverse Women and Girls'. A total of 116 participants came together to commit to being part of the solution to gender-based violence before watching a play performed by a youth group about GADC’s work. This culminated in a march to raise awareness of gender-based violence in the community.  

To mark International Human Rights Day – the final day of the 16 Days campaign – Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK) alongside other LGBT+ organisations in Cambodia held a roundtable dialogue to continue discussions with the Cambodian government and relevant stakeholders on how to advance marriage equality in the country. During the dialogue, diverse Cambodian LGBT+ community members shared stories emphasising how important equal marriage and family rights are to them and to guaranteeing social inclusion in Cambodia. Some of the recommendations discussed included creating a multi-stakeholder working group to discuss, study and review relevant laws to enable the passing of marriage equality in the country.  

Fiji Women’s Rights Movement kicked off their 16 Days of Activism campaign with a Women and Girls Sports Events in partnership with NRL in Fiji. The event included an intergenerational panel in which women and girls shared their experiences of gender disparities in sports. The panel’s aim was to emphasise the need for an equal playing field for women and girls in sports. The day ended with a sports clinic for the girls of FWRM’s GIRLS program.  

The FWRM team also facilitated a session on gender-based violence and awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace for staff at GIZ Pacific – an organisation supporting communities in the Pacific to adapt to climate change and mitigate the climate crisis through forestry conservation. The session was designed to facilitate a conversation between staff members on the prevalence of gender-based violence and sexual harassment, unpacking gender norms and the idea of the patriarchy as the root cause of violence.  

To mark the start of their 16 Days of Activism campaign, femLINKpacific published a special supplement in the Fiji Times about the global 16 Days campaign and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls. The special issue included messages from their Rural Women Leaders Community Media Network about the campaign and a call to action to Fiji and the Pacific to unite against the issue of gender-based violence - emphasising the importance of investing in prevention efforts. 

To mark International Human Rights Day, they also published an article in the Fiji Times sharing Julekha Mustapha’s story – one of the amazing rural women leaders in their network. Since being first involved with femLINKpacific’s work in 2006, Julekha has become well-versed in some of the most pervasive human rights issues faced by women in rural Fiji and is responsible for first bringing femLINKpacific’s work to Nadi.  

For this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign, Eastern Highlands Family Voice organised a march in the heart of Goroka Town, their chants resonating through the streets as they stood together against all forms of violence in the Eastern Highlands region. This included hosting a booth where materials about gender-based violence and how to address it were shared to community members, empowering all to play a role in creating a safer, more respectful region.   

Over in Jiwaka Province, Voice for Change led an awareness campaign to mark this year’s 16 Days and further the fight against violence in the region. On Thursday 30^th of November, over 500 Women Human Rights Defenders, partners and the general public came together in Banz Town to attend the program and advocate against gender-based violence.  

Gathering under the theme ‘Invest now to prevent all forms of violence in our communities - Play your part,’ they painted the town orange as they marched down the streets under banners that read out ‘Change starts with you,’ ‘Women have the same rights as men,’ and ‘Play your part.’  

The production has since been filmed and will be available for viewing soon.   

Head to Brown Girl Woke’s social media pages to see more behind-the-scenes videos of the production and learn why using performing arts to tell stories about domestic violence can be so powerful. You can also read more about the production through the Samoan Observer’s glowing review of the musical.   

“Hush” is Brown Girl Woke’s (BGW) contribution to this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign – a musical production bringing together six difference experiences of gender-based violence. Co-directed by BGW’s founder Maluseu Doris Tulifau, their Program Manager Yvette Alaalatoa Griffiths and Samoa Performing Arts and Creative Excellence’s Director Valentino Maliko, the production explores the role silence plays in hiding, protecting and allowing domestic violence to continue.  

Performed for young people aged 14 to 25, the musical invited its audience to reflect on the ways they uphold violence and what causes them to lose their voice when confronted with instances of domestic violence. They left the audience with a message of hope – that change is possible and very much in our hands to make a reality.   

As the co-directors shared, “To our youth, this is for you. It may not have started with us. But it ends with us.”  

Family Support Centre started their 16 Days campaign by distributing brochures about their services, domestic violence and child abuse more generally alongside information about legal services available at the FOPA Village.  

At the Gizo branch of their offices in the Western Province, FSC have been busy raising awareness of gender-based violence, running advocacy programs and working collaboratively with stakeholder and partners to advance the goals of the 16 Days campaign. This started with a vigil held on November 22^nd at the Saeragi United Church followed by the official launch of the campaign the following day with the Saeragi community. Led by the Western Council Province Council on Women, the event was attended by FSC and other SafeNet members as they carried out various activities to raise awareness of violence against women and girls in the community.  

FSC staff also conducted three separate community awareness sessions in Babanga, Niumanda and Paelonge alongside the police, the public solicitor’s office, mental health services, the Western Province SafeNet Coordinator and fellow IWDA partner People with Disabilities Solomon Islands. Topics covered in the sessions include the Western Province SafeNet referral pathway, domestic violence, child protection, child abuse and laws that protect women and children against violence in the Western Province.  

In addition to this, they also took part in two radio programs at Gizo SIBC radio Hapi Lagoon’s station to talk about domestic violence and child protection.  

To wrap up the campaign, the Gizo Branch Office distributed over 200 brochures about gender-based violence to the public in and around Gizo town, reaching hundreds with their message of ending violence against women and girls.  

The Sista team kicked off this year’s 16 Days campaign by attending Vanuatu’s annual White Ribbon Day march.  

On November 28^th, Sista’s Executive Director and the We Rise Coalition’s Communications Coordinator attended the official launch of Vanuatu’s Survivor-Victims Charter. The Charter sets out the rights of Survivor-Victims, the services they can access within the criminal justice system or from other service providers in the country.  

On December 5^th, they also attended an event hosted by Spotlight Initiative which created a space for over 50 key government and civil society partners’ to share statements and reflect on the work that has been done so far to address gender-based violence. The day included two panels, one of which was moderated by Sista’s ED Yasmine Bjornum, on the topics of redefining gender norms to prevent violence and survivor centred approaches to violence, recovery and justice.  

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign is a pivotal period for feminists and the women’s rights movement. Together we must call on governments, organisations and people everywhere to speak out against violence.  

With another 16 Days campaign completed, our partners have once again shown the breadth of work that they are doing to combat gender-based violence at all levels because of their belief in the fact that violence against women and girls is not inevitable; it is preventable.  

Together, our message will be amplified across our region, and our voices will be heard.