V-Day Annual Report 2014 - One Billion Rising for Justice | Page 12
RISING WORLDWIDE
ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE: GUATEMALA
JUSTICE
IN MANY INSTANCES, THE CAMPAIGN INSPIRED POLITICAL, JUDICIAL AND LEGISLATIVE
ACTION IN SUPPORT OF ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, INCLUDING:
• New legislation in the St. Lucian parliament to create a bill on the Sexual Abuse Act, the
creation of a Missing Person’s Act in Guyana and the creation of the Top 20 Actions to
Rise for Justice and Fight Sexual Violence in Haiti.
• Joint political demands for ending violence in Germany, created by major groups working
on ending violence against women at the federal level.
• The Creation of a V-Lawyers program by the national school of lawyers in Guatemala to
attend to violence against women and femicide cases. The creation of a team of lawyers
to work on cases that have come forward in Mexico since One Billion Rising 2013.
ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE SUDAN
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDED
AFGHANISTAN The Jalal Foundation launched a grassroots caravan for raising awareness on
women’s rights and the elimination of violence against women. The campaign targeted 20 districts of Badakshan, including Kishm, Tagab, Teshkan, Daraem, Argo, and Khashand and will be
replicated in other provinces in the months to follow.
DOMESTIC WORKERS from the UK to Swaziland to the Philippines to Hong Kong joined the campaign, seeing their struggles in the context of violence against women.
GERMANY In Berlin, due to the huge crowd, the street behind the landmark Brandenburg Gate was
blocked for the RISING.
• In Mexico City one district publically committing to ending sex trafficking.
THE GAMBIA The rising in the Gambia included a street parade and an open forum on “Rising
for Justice” that included children, youth, women, and men among other actors in the wider civil
society as well as NGOs and development partners.
• Local authorities in the Philippines pledging to ensure the protection of women at garbage
dump sites who the year before were being sold, and local governments working with
organized grassroots women’s groups to assure that the practice is stopped.
HAITI Activists created a “Leve Jistis” (Lift Justice) Mardi Gras float that put a national spotlight on
sexual violence prevention and women’s and girls’ rights, and invited men to engage as leaders in
this fight.
• The granting of direct access and open communication with the judiciary of Taiwan
concerning ending violence against women issues.
• Pushing forward legislation that would make Sex and Relationship Education compulsory
in UK schools, repeal visa laws that put domestic workers at serious risk of exploitation
and abuse, and ensure that vulnerable women are not subject to violence in immigration
detention centers.
• Bringing energy to the local movement to help free 2,000 prisoners for passion crimes in
Zimbabwe.
• The creation of the Swaziland women in action Coalition, a national network of feminist
activists working in the fields of law, education, medicine, workers unions, and social
work.
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