The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership 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. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates, including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre (in 1989 on that day fourteen women were shot to death in the University of Montreal’s School of Engineering).
Historically, the 16 Days Campaign has been instrumental in using a human rights framework to draw global attention to the worldwide problem of violence against women. In its early years (1991-1992), 16 Days activists initiated a worldwide petition calling for the United Nations to place women’s human rights issues on the agenda for the World Conference on Human Rights in June of 1993 in Vienna, Austria. By the time of the conference, the petition had collected half a million signatures in 23 languages from 124 countries. The petition helped secure a formal declaration of women’s rights as human rights and of violence against women as a human rights violation in the Vienna Declaration. Also, in 1999, the 16 Days Campaign was part of successful efforts to push the United Nations to declare November 25 as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
November 25 was declared International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women at the first Feminist Encuentro for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Bogota, Colombia, July 18-21, 1981. The “feminist encuentros” are conferences of feminists from Latin America who come together every 2-3 years in a different Latin American country in order to exchange experiences and to reflect upon the state of the women’s movement. At that first Encuentro, women systematically denounced all forms of gender violence from domestic battery to rape and sexual harassment to state violence including torture and abuse of women political prisoners. November 25 was chosen to commemorate the violent assassination of the Mirabal sisters (Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa) on November 25, 1960 by the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.
Activists at the local, national and regional levels have realized successes through activities as varied as media campaigns, campus rallies, art exhibitions, lobbying, roundtable discussions, theatre performances, tribunals, and workshops.
Over 2,000 organizations in approximately 154 countries have participated
in the 16 Days Campaign since 1991!
Every year, Centre for Women’s Global Leadership composes a campaign theme in consultation with women’s human rights advocates worldwide and then circulates an announcement for the campaign as widely as possible. The themes over the years are as follows:
1991/1992: Violence Against Women Violates Human Rights
1993: Democracy without Women’s Human Rights . . . is not Democracy
1994: Awareness, Accountability, Action: Violence Against Women Violates Human Rights
1995: Vienna, Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing: Bringing Women’s Human Rights Home
1996: Bringing Women’s Human Rights Home: Realizing Our Visions
1997: Demand Women’s Human Rights in the Home and in the World
1998: Building a Culture of Respect for Human Rights
1999: Fulfilling the Promise of Freedom from Violence
2000: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Campaign
2001: Racism and Sexism: No More Violence
2002: Creating a Culture That Says ‘No’ to Violence Against Women
2003: Violence Against Women Violates Human Rights: Maintaining the Momentum Ten Years After Vienna (1993-2003)
2004/2005: For the Health of Women, For the Health of the World: NO MORE VIOLENCE
2006: Celebrate 16 years of 16 days: Advance Human Rights ↔ End Violence Against Women
2007: Demanding Implementation, Challenging Obstacles: End Violence Against Women!
2008: Human Rights for Women, Human Rights for All: UDHR60
2009: Commit ▪ Act ▪ Demand: We CAN End Violence Against Women!