ORANGE THE WORLD: END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN NOW



The United Nations aets today, November, 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls which commemorates the deaths of three political activist sisters from the Dominican Republic assassinated in 1960. The theme for the day is Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape. In respect to this, today marks the beginning of the 16 days activism against gender-based violence. Hence, for the next 16 days, I would be sensitising you on Violence Against Women(VAW); myths and facts regarding violence against women; why you should stand against it; most likely, I'd share stories of some rape survivors here with their consent of course, and any and other related things you should know regarding violence against women and girls. The 16-days campaign would be a great one for me and I believe at the end of the day, you'd see every reason why you should stand against VAW.



The colour, orange symbolises a brighter future, free of violence. Just imagine a world free of violence in peace and war. What a world! Hence, the need to orange the world. Also, orange serves as a means of demonstrating one's solidarity in eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in the world because according to the UN, statistics show that 1 in 3 women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner; only 52% of women married or in a union freely make their own decisions about sexual relations, contraceptive use and health care; worldwide, almost 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday; while 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM); 1 in 2 women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family in 2017; while only 1 out of 20 men were killed under similar circumstances; 71% of all human trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls, and 3 out of 4 of these women and girls are sexually exploited and violence against women is as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria combined.



The UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” This shows that violence is not only seen in force but words and even deprivation of liberty or lack of consent. According to the theme, we'd be focusing more on rape and sexual violence in the next 15 days because 1 in 4 girls will be a victim of rape and other forms of sexual violence before 14.



Violence shouldn't be promoted in our words, speech, actions, and even reactions because in one way or the other we all are victims of violence against women and girls. Together, we can join hands together to create a world safe for all to live in not excluding women and girls. Welcome to the 16-days of violence against women and girls activism. I'm sure yo would enjoy every day.



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