Gujarat NGO launches campaign to end violence against women, girls

By A Representative
Ahmedabad-based NGO Utthan has launched a campaign with a “collective call to end all form of violence against women and girls.” Started on November 25 and ending on December 10. The campaign has been launched in association with four district women’s organizations and and 50 Gram Panchayats of Dahod, Mahisagar, Bhavnagar and Amreli districts.
Pointing out that district-level events are being organized involving village stakeholders, with the participation of block and district government officials, an Utthan communiqué says, Gujarat is faced with the highest decline in sex ratio at birth in the country, from 911 in 2011 (Census 2011) to 842 (SRS, 2017). Other crimes against women and girls continue to be alarming, it adds.
The campaign is said to be in line with the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign convened the world over as an organizing strategy to call for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence. It takes place every year between November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) and December 10 (International Human Rights Day) and is run by over 6,000 organizations in 187 countries.
“Starting with reaching out to communities & Panchayats to formally break the silence and culture of impunity, the Campaign will culminate at the block and district levels, to dialogue with justice and service delivery mechanisms on the issue”, the communiqué says, adding, it would update its campaign Facebook.