Moldova joins the international community in the fight against gender violence and will carry out a series of activities aimed at sensitizing the people to this problem in the period between November 25 and December 10, IPN reports.
The international campaign “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence” was initiated by the UN in 1991, while Moldova joined this initiative in 2009. Every year, the activities start on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Woman and end on Human Rights Day, making thus a symbolic connection between the fight against violence against women and the human rights.
Deputy Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Sergiu Sainciuc, in a news conference held to launch the current campaign, said that 2014 is an important year for Moldova given that the Association Agreement with the EU was signed and ratified this year and the country thus joined the large European family in the commitment to harmonize the national legislation to the European one.
Lilian Luca, division head at the General Police Inspectorate, said that despite the information activities carried out until now, the number of cases of domestic violence remains rather high. A solution for combating this phenomenon is to ensure more active cooperation between the social partners – the NGOs, the local public authorities, the police and law enforcement bodies and not only. Society must realize that domestic violence is a problem that must be dealt with.
Viorelia Rusu, psychologist of the International Center “La Strada”, said the organization she represents became actively involved in this campaign in time. “La Strada” launched a trust line and performed other activities aimed at preventing and combating domestic violence. “Within the current campaign, we will show films about the first signs of violence in the family and will make a number of videos on the issue. We will also carry out information activities for young people on their favorite social networking sites,” she stated.
At the national level, the campaign “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence” is organized by the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family in partnership with the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Health, the OSCE Mission to Moldova, UN Women, Gender-Centru, and “La Strada”.
