16 Days Campaign: Prevention And Elimination Of Violence Against Women And Girls

National level event on 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence took place in Nay Pyi Taw on Monday.

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign, which takes place each year and runs from 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day).

The campaign is targeted to post-primary students, government and community teachers, religious and village leaders as well as women and men, girls and boys.

Director-General, Department of Social Welfare, San San Aye said “We need to have involvement of men in this kind of campaign. I would like to inform to the public that not only women are the victims of violence cases, men can also be the victims. But most of the cases occured to women. So, we conduct this campaign.”

The campaign was led by Myanmar National Committee for Women Affairs (MNCWA) with 7 special task forces.

MNCWA has laid down 4 policies and 12 action plans including the drafting of Law on Prevention and Elimination of Violence Against Women. The Law has been drafted with the participation of representatives from the government departments and organizations, UN Agencies and CSOs, and the draft will be submitted to Hluttaw in the near future.

The women activist expressed the importance of having rule of law and access to justice for effective enforcement of the law.

Director, Gender Equality Network, May Sabae Phyu said “It is not enough by enacting law on prevention of violence against women. It is also important to have rule of law and access to justice. To prevent the victims women and girls with effective law and having access to justice are still challenges for us.”

The theme for this year's campaign is "Generation Equality Stands Against Rape". The activities ranged from awareness raising sessions, video projection, focus group discussions, sharing success stories, to drawing competitions.