Rise up against gender-based violence! KAIROS’ 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, November 25-December 10

Gender-based violence is on the rise globally.  

Racialized and Indigenous women are particularly affected by multiple levels of gender-based violence and oppression. Women human rights defenders, peacebuilders, community leaders, journalists and politicians are often targeted, attacked and killed for speaking out.  

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, a global campaign that mobilizes women’s organizations and movements, feminists, partners and survivors in their efforts to build awareness, advocate and act to end gender-based violence. The campaign ends on December 10, International Human Rights Day.   

Each year, the campaign is supported by the United Nations under UNiTE to End Violence Against Women Girls. This year, the Canadian government commemorates 16 days in the campaign- Come Together, Act Now.  

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 for their resistance to the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. With the transition to democracy in the Dominican Republic in the 1970s, the Mirabal sisters became symbols of both democratic and feminist resistance and were known as butterflies.    

As KAIROS, we have the privilege of collaborating with partners, networks, allies, and movements in Canada and the Global South – courageous, resilient, and powerful butterflies working every day to end all forms of violence – for everyone and the planet. 

For years, KAIROS has participated in the 16 Days of Activism to highlight and amplify the work that partners are doing every day to end gender-based violence and the impunity that supports and perpetuates it. This year we spotlight our partners’ activities and actions to end gender-based violence. Visit our 16 Days campaign page. 

The impetus for KAIROS to participate in this campaign came from our Global South partners, like the Organizacion Femenina Popular (OFP) in Colombia, who were already organizing 16 Days campaigns in their own contexts. They encouraged and catalyzed us to bring the campaign to Canada to highlight ongoing gender-based violence in Canada, particularly violence against Indigenous and migrant women. They helped us make the connections between the fight to end gender-based violence in Canada and the Global South.   

Partners highlight the need to end all forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence and feminicide,  gender-based violence resulting from war and military occupation, displacement and migration,  racism and colonization, and climate change, resource extraction and violence against the land. Many women, particularly Indigenous women, experience the latter as violence against themselves.    

With all forms of gender-based violence on the rise, with an increase in patriarchy and a backlash against feminisms and women’s rights and gender justice worldwide, this campaign is more important and urgent than ever. This is why we want to highlight the work that partners, networks and communities are doing every day of the year to end gender-based violence, to support survivors, to defend women rights and gender justice and to demand accountability through advocacy.  

This is why we want to double down and support this work through solidarity, advocacy, action and funding.   

This year, during the 16 Days of Activism, KAIROS will profile the work of partners, allies and networks in the Global South and in Canada during the campaign and every day to end gender-based violence. For people working with communities that are most affected by gender-based violence in all its forms, this is daily work. Learn more by visiting our 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign page. 

How can you take and inspire action? 

For the 16 days between today and December 10, KAIROS will share social media posts to make visible and amplify partners’ work, campaigns and actions to end gender-based violence. 

We invite you to participate in this social media campaign: 

• Follow and Share: Amplify our social media posts on our 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence landing page to spread the message—because “courage is contagious.”
• Advocate and Act: Support efforts to end all forms of gender-based violence and hold perpetrators accountable.
• Donate: Contribute to KAIROS to strengthen our solidarity and funding for this critical work.