You are: Home > 16-Day White Ribbon Campaign 2008

Observance of 16-Day White Ribbon Campaign 2008

Like in the past, Gender and Development for Cambodia (GAD/C) and Cambodian Men’s Network (CMN) jointly organized the White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) 2008. The campaign was organized in collaboration with Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), Ministry of Interior (MoI), Gender and Development Network (GADNet), Gender Technical Working Groups (GTWGs) of the Gender Action Plan of the Economic and Social Relaunch of the Northwest Provinces Project (ECOSORN), local authorities, NGOs, youth groups and Community Outreach program of GAD/C.

White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) is the campaign of men against men’s violence against women. Since its inception in 1991 in Canada, the 16-day White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) has become the largest effort in the world of men working to end men's violence against women. Every year, through WRC, particularly the men are urged to wear a white ribbon for a period of 16 days, starting on November 25 –the International Day for Eradication of Violence Against Women. Wearing white ribbon men pledge not to commit, condone nor remain silent about violence against women.

The theme of the campaign in this year was “End Domestic Violence: Respect Women’s Rights”. The campaign was organized in the provinces of Pursat, Prey Veng, Kampong Chhnang, and Banteay Meanchey. Main activities of WRC 2008 included:

• Public Meeting and March: Public meetings and rallies were held in the target provinces with participation of local authorities, government agencies and other stakeholders. Rallies passed the main roads.

• Commune Meeting and Door-to-Door Greetings: Activists of rallies greeted members of households in the target areas. They obtained pledge of male members not to commit any violence during the door-to-door greeting.

• Pinning White Ribbon: Activists pinned white ribbon to people during meeting, rally, and door-to-door campaign.

• Dissemination of Educational Materials: Leaflets, stickers and posters were disseminated among the people during the entire period of the campaign. T-shirts were also distributed among the activists and other people.

• Media Appearance: The CMN secretariat held radio talk show and TV roundtable discussion on domestic violence issue during the campaign.

• Installation of Bulletin Boards: Bulletin boards were installed in public places in some selected villages in target provinces. Posters, messages and news on men, masculinity and violence were posted on the bulletin board.