16 Days of Prayer Against Gender Violence

Join in Prayer and be in Solidarity - 16 Days of Prayer and Activism Against Gender Violence

The 16 Days of Prayer and Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University in 1991. Participants chose the dates to start on November 25 the International Day Against Violence Against Women and and finishing on December 10 - International Human Rights Day; also remembering December 1 is World AIDS Day and December 6, the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre when 14 women engineering students were gunned down for being feminists.

The 16 Days Campaign has been used as an organising strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by:

Raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels
Strengthening local work around violence against women
Establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women -providing a forum in which organisers can develop and share new and effective strategies
Demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world organising against violence against women
Creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women

Download the 16 Days of Prayer