Sixteen Days of Activism, from November 25 to December 10, aims to raise awareness and rid society of women and child abuse.
As a country which loves to rant about our rights, South African citizens are properly active with awareness days over this time and as a semi-feminist, I go “whoohoo” to each one of these.
I believe that men and women both have their different respective roles in society and not only women are the subjects of abuse, but being the weaker sex we are in most cases.
As with many things, I root for awareness and education as key weapons against abuse.
If victims realise their own worth and speak up, they can receive help.
Of course, this is more easily said than done as offenders generally convince their victims that they are unworthy or will get in trouble if they tell someone.
In order to achieve the success of the campaign, society will need to make our guaranteed support crystal clear to all over this time.
To be able to fight it, we need to have knowledge of it:
- Abuse is any behaviour that causes fear, bodily harm or a person to do things unwillingly.
- This can be in an emotional, physical, financial or sexual form.
Laws are set in place to protect the rights of individuals and abuse can be reported to:
- The police on 10111.
- Childline on 080 005 5555.
- Commission for Gender Equality on 011 403 7182.
Dates to observe during this period include:
- November 25: International Day of No Violence Against Women.
- November 29: International Women Human Rights Defenders Day.
- December 1: World Aids Day.
- December 3: International Day for the Disabled.
- December 10: International Human Rights Day.
Source: Parliament of the Republic of South Africa https://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=1851.
