The Ministry of Social Protection will be launching a campaign in observance of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, in Linden on Monday.

The campaign will be launched at the Egbert Benjamin Exhibition and Conference Center at 15:00hrs and will conclude with a candle light vigil at 17:30hrs. An exhibition of the services provided by the Ministry and other key stakeholders will commence at 14:00hrs.

Apart from Monday’s activities, the ministry will collaborate with the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Policy Unit, the Region’s local authorities, Non-Government partners and civil Society for a series of other events. These include a public awareness and sensitization sessions within schools, workplaces, community and religious organizations from November 21 to December 10 and a Men against Violence Forum on November 29, 2019 in the Boardroom of the Mayor and Town Councilor in Linden.

16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence was started by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991. Over the next 16 days, beginning today and up until Human Rights Day on December 10, Guyana will join the rest of the world in calling for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.

A recent report has shown that more than one in three Guyanese women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) and some 20 per cent of women in Guyana have experienced non-partner sexual abuse (NPSV) in their lifetime. Around 13 per cent experience the latter form of abuse before the age of 18.

This is according the Guyana Women’s Health and Life Experiences Survey Report launched between the government, the UNDP and UN Women; USAID, Inter Development Bank (IDB), the University of Guyana, the Global Women’s Institute of George Washington University, and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

At the launching earlier in November, Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally had pledged that the recommendations coming out of the study will be looked at. The report calls for programmes that focus on changing patriarchal cultural norms and gender attitudes, including through educational initiatives in primary, secondary, technical, vocational education and training and tertiary level educational institutions.