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. 12 I 9%