Sofia, November 25, 2021
Every year between November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and December 10, the Human Rights Day, the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence are celebrated in the world and in our country. The campaign was created by activists from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and is celebratring its 30th anniversary this year.
The initiative is supported by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, via the UNiTE Campaign to End Violence Against Women (UNiTE Campaign) by 2030. It was launched in 2008 to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls around the world, calling for global action to raise awareness, promote advocacy and create opportunities to discuss challenges and solutions.
For yet another year the color orange will be used to represent a brighter future, free of violence against women and girls, as a unifying theme, running through all the global activities of the campaign.
Recent studies show that nearly 1 in 3 women over the age of 15 in the world have been physically or sexually abused by an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime. Every third murdered woman- victim of domestic violence, has previously been systematically subjected to physical abuse and mental harassment by the killer. And the court accepts jealousy as a mitigating circumstance. Unfortunately, levels of violence against women and girls have remained largely unchanged over the last decade.
These numbers do not reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and would be even higher if they included the full continuum of violence affecting women and girls, including sexual harassment, online violence and sexual exploitation. COVID-19 exacerbated all risk factors for gender-based violence, including unemployment and poverty, and reinforced many of the root causes, such as gender stereotypes.
Data from civil society organizations providing assistance and support to victims of violence show an increase since the beginning of the pandemic.
Our country lacks enough crisis centers and counseling programs to provide timely professional assistance to victims of violence.
Over the next 16 days, BFPA will join the calls of this year's global campaign END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN NOW! ” The campaign will mobilize all UNITE networks, civil society and women's rights organizations, the UN system, the Coalition for Action against Gender-Based Violence, government partners, schools, universities, the private sector, sports clubs and associations and individuals to promote awareness, responsibility and improvement of national policies and standards.
The association also supports the national protest "NOT EVEN ONE MORE". From a legal point of view, it is very difficult to prove that a woman is a victim of domestic violence. In order to qualify an act as domestic violence, there is currently a legal requirement for it to be systematic, i.e. to have at least three cases of violence. Unfortunately, often women victims of violence do not accept it as violence, but as something normal. There are no exact data on their number, because no state institution collects such information. Women's rights organizations count the number of victims based on media publications. Data for Bulgaria show that every third woman is affected by some form of violence. Since the beginning of the year, at least 17 women have lost their lives to an intimate partner in our country. The latest case of a woman killed by her partner - she was suffocated by her husband with foil and thrown into a suitcase - once again shocked society. It is time for rule-making changes and tangible support for victims of domestic violence and gender-based violence.
