The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign which takes place each year and runs from 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day), also encompassing other important key dates. It was originated in 1991 and is coordinated by the Center for Women's Global Leadership.  In support of this civil society initiative, each year, the United Nations Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women calls for global action to increase worldwide awareness and create opportunities for discussion about challenges and solutions. In 2015, the UNiTE campaign called on governments, UN entities, civil society organizations and individuals across the world to ‘orange their neighborhoods’ to raise public awareness about the issue of violence against women and girls. As one of the official colors of the UNiTE campaign symbolizing a brighter future and a world free from violence against women and girls, the color orange was once again a uniting theme throughout all events. The initiative called on all people in all parts of world to take action in their communities, play their part and stand up against violence against women and girls.

Important Facts

In New York City:

• The NYPD responded to more than 263,207 domestic-violence calls last year. That’s an average of 700 domestic calls for help every day, or one every two minutes.
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of serious injury to women. One in three women killed each year are killed by a spouse or partner.
• A high prevalence of dating relationships of young women 15-24 in New York City are characterized by physical violence (22%), coercion (67%) and forced sexual experiences (37%).
• The New York City Domestic Violence Hotline receives an average of 1,400 calls from teenagers every month.
• In 2012, 68% of all murders of women in our city were related to domestic violence, up from 54% in 2011, with the highest incidences of domestic violence consistently occurring in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

In the United States:

• Three or more women are killed every day by their spouse or former partner. New York City's Domestic Violence Hotlines received more than 310 calls per day.
• The cost of intimate partner violence in the United States alone exceeds $5.8 billion per year: $4.1 billion is for direct medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly $1.8 billion.
• In the United States, 83 per cent of girls in grades 8 through 11 (aged 12 to 16) have experienced some form of sexual harassment in public schools.
• Factoring in unreported rapes, about 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail. 15 out of 16 will walk free.
• The U.S. is the second-highest destination in the world for trafficked women. The vast majority are trafficked into the sex industry.

Around the World:

• Half of the global population is a gender that is oppressed in more than half of the world's territories.
• One in three women everywhere will be subjected to violence or abuse in her lifetime.
• One in five women will be a victim of rape or an attempted rape in her lifetime, and more than 70 percent of those will be at the hands of someone she knows.
• 120 million girls around the word have had to succumb to the blade of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and more than 80 million were married before they hit adulthood. Untold numbers suffer from honor crimes in silence.
• Young women and girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violations during armed conflict, including rape, genital mutilation, forced pregnancy, sexual slavery and enforced prostitution. In Darfur and Congo rape of girls and women is systematic, and used to displace and terrorize populations.
• Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria, according to World Bank data.
• In Australia, Canada, and Israel 40 to 70 per cent of female murder victims were killed by their partners, according to the World Health Organization.
• Young women are particularly vulnerable to coerced sex and are increasingly being infected with HIV/AIDS. Over half of new HIV infections worldwide are occurring among young people between the ages of 15 and 24, and more than 60 per cent of HIV-positive youth in this age bracket are female. The vulnerability of women and girls to HIV remains particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa; 80 % of all women in the world living with HIV live in this region.
• Although the global scale of human trafficking is difficult to quantify, it is estimated that as many as 2.5 million people are trafficked annually into situations including prostitution, forced labor, slavery or servitude. Women and girls account for about 80 per cent of the detected victims.

Learn more about this problem on a global, national, and local scale at our Orange Weekend Events.