16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence

UPR Info is proud to have participated for the second year in the 16 Days of activism against gender-based violence campaign. To this end, UPR Info organized a social media campaign around different projects including video interviews with women human rights defenders and case study research on four different countries to provide good practices on how UPR recommendations have contributed to achieve women’s rights and eliminate gender-based violence.

The 16 Days of activism against gender-based violence campaign is an annual international campaign that starts on the 25th of November, the International Day for the Eradication of violence against women, until the 10th of December, Human Rights Day. The theme for 2019 is Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands against Rape! Started in 1991, this campaign is vital to bring awareness to the global fight against violence against women.

The case studies we developed focused on 4 different countries and how UPR recommendations inspired change on the issue of domestic violence. To complement the research, infographics on our findings were shared on all of our social media platforms.

Among the findings of the research, we found that the Republic of Korea had received many recommendations on how to help the victims of domestic violence, leading them to develop a helpline for women and an Emergency Support Center for Marriage Migrant Women. Ghana received recommendations to improve the legal system surrounding domestic violence so they established the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit to aid in investigations and a Gender-Based Violence Court. Argentina received recommendations to promote education on domestic violence, so they instituted mandatory training on gender-based violence for police officers and the Observatory on Violence Against Women to collect data to develop an information system to inform public policy. Switzerland received recommendations to work to prevent domestic violence, so they ratified the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. In all of these states, we found that civil society organizations played a vital role in inspiring change and fighting domestic violence.

In addition, UPR Info filmed several interviews with women human rights defenders that participated in UPR Info’s Pre-session of Bolivia, Madagascar, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Côte d’Ivoire and DRC. These videos (FR - SP/EN) aimed to share inspiring stories of women involved in advocacy and the defense of human rights. Specifically, their interviews focused on how the UPR has helped them in their work. On the process of the UPR, one interviewee stated, “We are aware that the UPR is not a binding mechanism but it is still a space that we can take advantage of to really have an impact. For us, it's an opportunity that we believe is not only encouraging but also really useful in the pursuit of our work.”