In focus: 16 Days of Activism on Ending Violence Against Women 2024

Towards 30 years of the Beijing Declaration and platform for action: UNiTE to End Violence Against Women and Girls 

Every 10 minutes, a woman was intentionally killed in 2023. The numbers are rising. The crisis of gender-based violence is urgent.

Femicide is a universal problem, and the most brutal, visible, and extreme manifestation of the continuum of gender-based violence.

The normalization of violence—from domestic abuse to harassment at work and in public spaces, and digital violence—leads to a cultural climate where women are being abused and intentionally killed, often with impunity.

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international civil society led campaign. It commences on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day, highlighting that violence against women is the most pervasive breach of human rights worldwide. The campaign was launched by activists at the inaugural Women's Global Leadership Institute in 1991, and has since mobilized individuals and organizations, including the United Nations and partners worldwide to advocate for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls (VAWG). In support of this civil society initiative, under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women initiative (UNiTE) calls for global action to increase awareness, galvanise advocacy efforts and share knowledge and innovations to end VAWG once and for all. Launched in 2008, UNiTE is a multi-year advocacy effort aimed at preventing and eliminating VAWG around the world. UNiTE calls on governments, development actors, civil society, women’s rights organizations, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system to collaborate in addressing violence against women and girls. As the global community approaches the 30th anniversary review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and following the 2023 SDG Summit’s call for accelerated progress toward achieving the 2030 Agenda, VAWG remains alarmingly prevalent across private and public spaces and across all forms of VAWG, including its most extreme manifestation through the gender-related killings of women and girls (“femicide”). Despite the 2 efforts of women's rights movements to demand justice and accountability, and some notable progress in preventing and responding to VAWG, significant challenges persist in fully addressing the issue. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s designation of November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in memory of the Mirabal sisters, who were brutally assassinated on this day in 1960. In 2024, women and girls continue to be murdered because of their gender. Women in the public eye, including those in politics, women human rights defenders and journalists1 are often targets of intentional acts of violence, both online and offline, with some leading to fatal outcomes and intentional killings. This year, the UNiTE campaign will aim to mobilize around the priorities of the Beijing +30 review through emphasizing the urgency of strengthening accountability for ending violence against women and girls. It calls for concrete actions, including holding perpetrators accountable, and accelerating action through well-resourced national strategies and increased funding to women’s rights movements. Read more