All You Need to Know about the 16 Days of Activism Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign begins on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and runs until December 10, International Human Rights Day. This symbolic link emphasizes that women’s rights are human rights. The campaign aims to raise awareness about violence against women and girls and mobilize global action to prevent it.

Between November 25 and December 10, several international observances are commemorated, including International Women Human Rights Defenders Day (Nov 29), World AIDS Day (Dec 1), International Day of Persons with Disabilities (Dec 3), and Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (Dec 5). These days highlight various causes connected to the broader struggle for human rights worldwide.

The campaign was launched in 1991 by activists at the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership in the United States and has grown into a global movement supported by the United Nations (UN). Each year, the UN Committee on the Status of Women sets a campaign theme. Past themes include: Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women & Girls (2023), Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, collect (2020), and Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape (2019). This year’s focus is “End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls”, addressing the growing misuse of digital technologies and AI to harass, manipulate, and intimidate women.

While the UN provides guidance, much of the campaign is implemented by governments, community organizations, and local initiatives. In Pakistan, last year, UN Women conducted a theatre on wheels campaign to raise awareness on gender-based violence. This year, activities began with the release of a report on digital violence and a compendium of derogatory terms used against women in Urdu and Punjabi by the UKS Research Centre.

The Scale of Abuse

Globally, 30% of women and girls aged 15 and above have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives, excluding sexual harassment. In 2024, 50,000 of 83,000 female homicides (around 60%) were committed by intimate partners or family members, equivalent to 137 women killed every day. Child marriage remains prevalent, with 19% of girls aged 20–24 married before 18, though this is a slight decrease from 22% in 2014. Female genital mutilation also affects millions, with 230 million girls victimized worldwide, a 15% increase over eight years.

Digital Abuse Against Women

Digital violence against women is on the rise. UN Statement indicates that 58% of women and 20% of girls under 18 face some form of online abuse, though true numbers are likely higher due to underreporting. Common forms include

• Online harassment and cyberstalking: Repeated, unwanted messages, cyber-flashing, creepshots, and surveillance such as tracking your location, or monitoring your activity.
• Image-based and deepfake abuse: Sharing private images without consent, or creating AI-generated sexual content through morphing, splicing, or superimposing photographs and videos to create deepfakes. This can sometimes also be called revenge porn.
• Violent pornography: Images of sexual aggression and gendered violence in pornography are widely available on the internet, which is normalizing and perpetuating violence against women and girls.
• Trolling, threats, and blackmail: Abusive comments designed to silence or intimidate, gender-based hate speech, threatening to share personal information, photos, or videos of someone.
• Digital dating abuse: Using apps or social media to control, pressure, or isolate a partner.
• Online grooming: Using digital platforms to build trust or a relationship with someone – often a minor – with the intention of sexual exploitation and trafficking.
• Doxxing: Publishing personal information online to endanger or intimidate.
• Identity theft: Impersonation and the creation of fake profiles.
• Control of access: Restricting or monitoring a woman’s access to shared devices, the internet, or power sources.

The Role of AI

The proliferation of AI tools has worsened digital abuse. Deepfakes account for 90–95% of AI-generated sexual content, often used for blackmail. Verified AI-generated child sexual abuse material has nearly quadrupled between 2023 and 2024. AI-driven language models can manipulate women and girls online, extract sensitive information, or even lure them into dangerous situations.

The Manosphere and Online Misogyny

Certain online communities, collectively called the manosphere, promote anti-women ideologies. These include incels, men’s rights activists, pick-up artists, and Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW). These groups spread misogynistic language, normalize violence, and harm both women and the men involved by promoting anxiety, low self-esteem, and risky behaviors.

Taking Action

Governments, tech companies, and stakeholders are urged to enforce strong laws, strengthen justice systems, provide support and reparations for survivors, promote digital literacy, design safer technologies, counter misogyny online, and fund women’s rights organizations.

Individuals can also contribute by supporting survivors, advocating for stricter laws, pressuring tech companies to create safer platforms, promoting digital safety awareness, and calling out misogyny and harmful “locker-room talk.” Men have a special role as allies in creating a safe, inclusive society. Everyone must act together to ensure women and girls can live free from violence, both offline and online.