16 days of activism against gender violence

16 days 16 stories

Violence against women & HIV

Women living with HIV are more likely to have experienced violence, and women who have experienced violence are more likely to have HIV. (UNAIDS 2009)

Child soldiers (Liberia)

“I can’t remember the last time anyone kissed or hugged me, but my commander would praise me when I fought well. He called me a Big Man.” Read the full story of Liberia’s boy soldiers: www.cafod.org.uk/boysoldiers

Men as mediators

“If I tell a man to stop hitting his wife and the violence continues I tell the police. Some men do not respect their promises so I report them to the commune police. “ (Male Gender Peace Activist, Banteay Srei, Cambodia)

Trauma Counselling

“I ran away from our village… the soldiers came to kill us.

They were angry so they beat me severely for a long time. I thought I would die.

After receiving counselling from AVEGA I felt like I had been set free from my dark thoughts. It helped me realise that suffering doesn’t mean death.”

Feza, trauma counsellor - AVEGA, Rwanda http://www.cafod.org.uk/rwanda

Femicide

The Guatemalan ‘femicide’ affects primarily poor, indigenous women.

Around 50 women are murdered every month.

Urban violence

“Imagine what it’s like to sleep on the pavement, where people spit and throw rubbish. You’re never safe”.

- Ivanete (Nete) de Araujo, Brazil Many of the urban homeless in Brazil are women like Nete. Nete lived on the streets until she was found by the APOIO team. Now she is at the frontline of the struggle to secure safe housing for others who are affected by urban violence. www.cafod.org.uk/where-we-work/brazil

Dignity

“So many things have happened in my life that gave me huge pain. I was carrying them with me like a cross. I was always the victim. Thanks to God I came to this workshop to learn how to free myself from all this pain.�

-Martha Aurelia Villalobos, Guatemala Before and after images from women affected by violence who attended the personal development workshops at the Central American Institute of Spirituality, Guatemala.

Gender violence in refugee camps

Nadia is a 17 year old who has experienced violence in a refugee camp. CAFOD partner Association Najdeh (AN) gives advice and support to girls like Nadia. “Showing strong personality is important for you against your uncle, tell him that you will inform your father and the family about his harassment�

- AN Counsellor, Lebanon

Rebuilding livelihoods after conflict

“I was forcibly displaced from my old home by a group of armed men….I had three choices: to leave, to give way, or to die. ..I took nothing with me, just the clothes I was standing up in.’

- Amparo, furniture maker, Colombia With the help of Pastoral Social Colombia, Amparo has set up a metal furniture making business.

Protection in CAFOD’s humanitarian response

By building the water supply close to the hospital, Caritas Goma have ensured that women like Noela, Chantale and Riziki no longer have to risk being attacked when fetching water from the river to wash their relatives’ bandages.

Involving men

Our partner Sabakan believes men have a role in stopping the cycle of violence against women. Sabakan’s men’s support group was formed in response to requests by men themselves, and is a rare place where men can share their stories and ideas and feel that they are being heard.

“I was very abusive to my wife but through regular sharing with other men I have been able to change” - group member, Sabakan, Philippines

Disability and physical violence

“When I started learning tailoring everybody laughed at me saying how can a cripple learn tailoring. One of the tailors even slapped me and told me to leave, but I insisted that I can learn it. And after 5 days I sewed a blouse�

- Kulsum, Group member of Action on Disability and Development, Bangladesh

Abduction

"I was in captivity for ten years and eleven months“ - Amony Evelyn, Uganda Amony Evelyn was taken from her home as twelve year old child. By the time she escaped from the bush, she had two children fathered by rebel soldiers.

Caritas Gulu, Uganda Provides Trauma Counselling.

Rape as a weapon of war

"The rebels came in the night and raped my daughter to death. Then they raped me."

- M'Namihamya Munyerenkana,

CDJP Bukavu, DRC www.cafod.org/50years50faces

Sexual Violence

75 % of women in Liberia were raped during the conflict.

Civil Society Campaign against genderbased violence in Liberia.

Access to justice

Memories of gender violence drawn by community volunteers with Nicaraguan partner CENIDH. Women learn how to become human rights promoters and are trained on legal procedures for reporting cases of domestic violence.