By Skye VanLanduyt 
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence is a yearly campaign running from November 25- December 10. The campaign was founded in 1991 at the Women’s Global Leadership Institute, with the purpose to call for prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. The United Nations (UN) Women started a UNITE by 2030 Campaign under secretary, Ban Ki-Moon. The UNITE campaign specifically “calls on governments, civil society, women’s organizations, young people, the private sector, the media, and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls.” According to the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, the campaign is “the most widely recognized and longest-running campaign for women’s rights in the world.”
This year’s theme is “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape.” The 5 focus areas of UNITE include…
• Honor and acknowledge Women’s Movements
• ‘Leave No One Behind.’ Take a “human-rights based approach and focus on underserved and disadvantaged groups of women and girls.”
• Survivor-Centered: “Take a respectful and ‘do no harm’ approach to the telling and retelling of survivor stories.”
• Multi-Sectoral: “everyone in society has an important role to play.”
• The Color Orange: Show your support by wearing orange!
Make sure you like and follow the UMKC Women’s Center and The UMKC Violence Prevention and Response. We will be posting information about each day and ways about how you can take action against gender violence during the campaign! You can also check out the UN Women’s Facebook page to learn more about the cause, read articles about international women’s rights, and advocacy.