The international campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” started in Moldova and will continue until December 10, when the International Human Rights Day is celebrated. The goal of the event is to raise the population’s awareness of gender-based violence. The launch was held in Europe Square in the central park of Chisinau on November 25, IPN reports.
The campaign was launched on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Its message this year is #HearMeToo End violence against Women and Girls.
In the launch, “Promo-LEX” Association, the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims “Memoria” and the Association against Violence “Casa Mărioarei”, in partnership with the General Police Inspectorate, provided free consultations on problems related to gender-based violence and distributed brochures.
“Only welfare can increase welfare. Any attempt to use violence in time gives birth to violence. What is the whole society turning into? I’m absolutely against violence. There are so many programs on TV that teach some to act this way. All the subjects seem to be aimed at correcting the behavior in society, but where there is even a small grain of violence, this grows and produces very serious tragedies. It is painful. Only kindness can stop the use violence, even by those who are aggressive. We can succeed only with determination and patience,” stated Missis Adriana aged 79.
In a press release, “Promo-LEX” Association said about 60% of the women in Moldova face psychological violence, while 55% - forms of psychological violence aimed at social isolation. Each tenth woman suffered economic violence at least once, about 40% of the women were subject to physical violence at least once and approximately 19% sexual violence at least once. At the same time, 12.3% of the women experienced the three cumulative forms of violence – psychological, physical and sexual – on the part of the husband or partner during their lifetime, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
In the first ten months of this year, the police recorded over 9,000 reports about use of violence and issued over 3,000 emergency restraining orders.
The campaign was launched as part of the project “Promoting the respect for women’s rights in Moldova by combating gender-based violence” that is implemented by “Promo-LEX”, “Casa Mărioarei” and “Memoria” and is supported financially by the European Union. The general objective of the project is to improve the observance of women’s rights by fighting gender-based violence.
