Today marks the beginning of this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, starting on November 25th (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), and ending on December 10th (Human Rights Day). The theme this year is Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape. The Violence Prevention Programs invite you to follow us on MOSAIC’s website, Facebook, and Twitter during this period, as we provide information regarding violence against women and share some empowering messages. Stay tuned and stay connected!
A Day for Eliminating Violence Against Women
November 25th marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This day was selected to honour three political activists from the Dominican Republic, the Mirabal sisters, who were brutally murdered by the country’s ruler in 1960s. It is a day that has been designated against gender-based violence to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls worldwide.
November 25th should be a reminder of the pervasive issue regarding violence globally, and how to stop it. Presently, only two out of three countries have outlawed domestic violence, while 49 countries still do not have laws protecting women from domestic violence. On this day, many NGOs, international organizations, and governments take part in raising awareness and increasing resources and policies dedicated to eliminating violence.
MOSAIC, being one of these organizations, plays a significant role in laying the foundation for a road towards a world free of gender-based violence in many ways.
Stopping the Violence Program
As a part of the Stopping the Violence Program, MOSAIC offers free support services as well as individual and group counselling for women who have experienced or are at risk of abuse, threats, violence, sexual assault, or childhood trauma. It is a safe and confidential program that allows for women to get counselling support and outreach services.
As part of the counselling support, MOSAIC workers take part in advocating, safety planning, crisis intervention and group support. In addition, there are numerous outreach services not exclusive to help completing forms, accessing resources and learning about one’s rights and the law. Services are offered in English, Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Vietnamese, and Korean.
Equal Press Project
Equal Press is a project of MOSAIC that seeks to address how local news media represents gender and gender-based violence. The project applies an intersectional lens which takes into account the diversity of class, race, and sexuality in the community, and endeavours to help journalists integrate a trauma-informed approach into their work.
Equal Press also works to amplify underrepresented voices in the media through their database of local women and gender-diverse experts on gender and gender-based violence. The project plays a significant role in raising awareness about gender-based violence and the underrepresentation of it in our community.
Article Sources:
https://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/background.shtml
