Annual campaign "19 Days of activism for the prevention of violence against children & youth 1-19 November 2020" was launched yesterday by Women's World Summit Foundation. You can join as an active campaign coalition partner and share their proposed ideas for action with your civil society network, faith-based leaders and youth groups around the world. More information about campaign and how to join it, can be found HERE.

At the initiative of the Women’s Rights Committee, the European Parliament is holding its first ever European Gender Equality Week from 26 to 29 October. 2020 sees the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This important milestone provides an opportunity to discuss the achievements and future challenges for the advancement of girls' and women's rights and gender equality. Therefore, the European Parliament, at the initiative of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee, decided to hold for the first time a European Gender Equality Week from Monday 26 to Thursday 29 October. For the full program of events in all participating Committees, click HERE. You can watch all these events via web streaming on the EP Multimedia Centre.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin (Finland) participated in the Girls Takeover event organized by Plan International on 7 October. For one day, the Prime Minister’s seat has been occupied by 16-year-old Aava Murto. In the Girls Takeover, which is part of the celebration of the UN’s International Day of the Girl, girls around the world step into the shoes of leaders in different sectors of society. More information about this day and speech done by Aava Murto can be found HERE.

The number of survivors contacting rape crisis centres for counselling was 98 per cent higher between March and the end of June than in the same period last year, the figures confirm. The number of calls to RCNI helplines increased by 23 per cent in the same period to more than 4,000. The figures are taken from six rape crisis centres across the State and feature in an RCNI report published on Monday. The report says the amount of time survivors spent on calls to the RCNI’s helplines increased by 83 per cent in the four-month period. The number of counselling appointments provided by rape crisis centres rose by 30 per cent, with 4,734 sessions provided over the phone or via video call. The largest increase in numbers contacting RCNI helplines came as the country introduced coronavirus restrictions on non-essential movement in March, with a 63 per cent rise in calls when compared with the same period last year. Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/covid-19-reports-of-rape-and-child-sex-abuse-rise-sharply-during-pandemic-1.4308307?fbclid=IwAR3Mfi29ag44tlG-Y98Bt3vCZlG990nJQbEbS6DbPZ78rHWlFSEkDMe-eys

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) created Pantosaurus: pant-wearing Dino! He wants every child to stay safe and strong, just like him, and he's on a mission to share an important message. You can watch this educative video with your children and teach them about their private parts! #reactagainstsexualviolence

As a consequence of the global COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people now find themselves indoors. Gender inequalities, particularly of women in the home, are becoming increasingly apparent when it comes to housework, cleaning and caring for children, the sick or the elderly. In responding to the outbreak, women make up 70 per cent of workers in the health and social sector and do three times as much unpaid care work at home as men. Women are in the lead across the world as front-line responders, health care professionals, scientists, doctors and more. The #HeForSheAtHome campaign aims to highlight this unfair burden on women and encourage men to do their equal share. More information about campaign and how to join, can be found HERE.

While Sexual Assault Awareness Month is a time each April to shine a light on prevention and share support for survivors, in the midst of a global pandemic, this all takes on a new significance. For many survivors, social distancing limits access to services, medical care, and community supports — and social unrest and crisis are often linked to increased risk of sexual assault and abuse. Additionally, annual events that are typically held during this month to show community support for survivors have been postponed or canceled. That’s why our support for survivors now is more critical than ever. HERE are six ways for us all to support survivors online.

Happy Holidays from Incest Trauma Center! https://www.facebook.com/europeanwomensnetwork/videos/525018258299646/?t=0

European Women's Network against Sexual Violence wishes you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.                 https://www.facebook.com/europeanwomensnetwork/videos/525018258299646/?t=0  

Association SOS Help line for Women and Children – Victims of Violence, Slovenia Ljubljana, 18th November 2019 A word of Survivor Fourteen years of surviving sexual abuse by my grandfather left many consequences. It is precisely for the sake of minimizing abuse, quickly detecting it and effectively protecting victims, that I publicly share my message, a survivors' message: »I wish we could get globally together and be aware of the power of child sexual abuse. The power that the perpetrator abuses against the victim and the power of the victim to survive and speak of them. It was extremely painful for me to repeat the testimony of what was happening to me. I felt abused and played out by those who ran the procedures. They did not realise that the act of sexual abuse is not equal to  "car accident and recovery after it. " Sexual abuse is an act that marks a human being from the inside out. They mark us and live inside for the rest of our lives. Wounds left by sexual abuse are not healed. The story of sexual abuse goes with us to the grave. With the experience, you can – with tremendous effort, processing, engaging with yourself, with your feelings and experiences – learn to live. But we will never be as we were before we became survivors of sexual abuse. It is unfortunate that only few stories of sexual abuse come as far away as mine has come. Too much is about proving and testimonial. Sexual abuse is the content that should be approached differently because there are not many witnesses in this type of action. Sexual abuse is not happening before the eyes of observers. Survivors are extremely injured, weak, full of disgust, misery, uncertainty, doubts, feelings of guilt, fear, which affects…