Campaign focuses on gender violence

PAPUA New Guinea is among countries around the world that is currently observing the “16 days of activism against gender violence” campaign which started last Wednesday.
The international campaign is linked to the international day for Elimination of Violence Against Women with Human Rights Day on Dec 10.
In PNG, the 16 days activism was extended to 20 days to include human rights activism to highlight the following significant dates-International Children’s Day (Nov 20), International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women (Nov 25), World AIDS Day (Dec 1), International Day of Persons Living with Disabilities (Dec 3), International Volunteer Day (Dec 5), International Anti-Corruption Day (Dec 9) and International Human Rights Day (Dec 10).
The Government is expected to reaffirm its commitment to implement its obligations under international human rights treaties and take action to increase the level of public awareness and understanding of these rights during the 20 days.
On the international day for women, the United Nations core message was: “Women’s rights are human rights, and violence against women in any form cannot be tolerated.”
The UN acknowledged the importance of the 16 days of heightened attention and activism on upholding women’s rights and progressing gender equality in PNG, in line with the global commitments such as the Beijing Platform for Action and the millennium declaration and goals.
This year’s global theme for the 16-day activism was “Commit-Act-Demand: We can end violence against women”.
UN agencies in PNG and national development partners-Government and civil society organisations, women human rights activists and defenders and their organisations, movements and networks who were concerned by the high levels of violence against women in the country have arranged activities to reach out and mobilise the wider public.