Violence against women is often an ignored issue. An issue that most of us regard as a third world given, not something one of our friends might be facing. I remember that the generation of my parents wasn’t much surprised when a girlfriend caught a slap from her husband for ‘misbehaving’, while it was also quite normal to give your kid an equally good smack for stepping out of line.
That was less than 20 years ago. While there were laws introduced that protect women from being raped and abused by their husbands, and children from being abused by their parents, most abuse happens at home; behind closed doors and curtains for no one to see.
As a domestic issue violence against women has to be battled head on. By educating women about their rights and by educating their neighbors about not closing the door for someone in need.
To raise awareness of the issue of ‘Violence Against Women,’ the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) and UN Women, reached out to the European creative community asking citizens to make an ad that screamed No to Violence Against Women. Over 2,700 Europeans from 40 countries across the continent participated. Three prizes were awarded; the jury prize, the youth prize and the public vote prize. The first two were selected by renowned experts and the third by over 120,000 public votes.
Today is the big kick-off of ‘Say NO to Violence Against Women’ by UNRIC and UN Women at HLP in Brussels.
From October 22nd to November 6th, Harlan Levey Projects (HLP) in Brussels will host the UNRIC exhibition of the thirty finalists and three jury selected winners. Additionally HLP will host a series of lectures and screenings. While other activities will be announced shortly, confirmed is the screening of the engaging documentary Not For Sale on October 27th.
To celebrate the strong women in our network and beyond we will dig up some older and create some newer posts on the females that get out there, raise awareness and don’t shy away from difficulties.
Be strong! Get involved!
