16 Days of Activism campaign invites locals to take a stand

The South African government has again launched the 16 Days of Activism campaign between 25 November and 10 December.

Over this period, the government has committed to convene a series of dialogues on violence against women and children in a bid to focus on the problem, discuss the causes and find appropriate solutions.

According to its website, the objectives of this campaign are as follows:

• Attract all South Africans to become active participants in the fight to eradicate violence against women and children with the theme ‘Count Me In’
• Expand accountability beyond the justice, crime prevention, and security cluster to include all government clusters and provinces
• Combine technology, social media, the arts, journalism, religion, culture and customs, business and activism to draw attention to the ways violence against women and children affects people in all communities across the world
• Ensure mass mobilisation of all communities to promote collective responsibility in the fight to eradicate violence
• Encourage society to acknowledge that violence against women and children is not a government or criminal justice system problem, but a societal problem
• Emphasise that the solution lies with us.

Violence takes many forms including physical violence (murder, robbery, rape, and assault), emotional violence and the violence of poverty, starvation, humiliation, and degradation.

The government encourages community members to take action over the 16 days by:

• Wearing a red ribbon
• Participating in the various 16 Days of Activism events
• Volunteering to support NGOs and community groups supporting abused women and children
• Speaking out against women and child abuse
• Joining community policing forums.

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