On the 4th of December 2015 Belarus joined other 70 countries, where national iconic buildings were lit up in orange to say NO TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS!
World historical and cultural highlights light up in orange to support international UN Secretary-General’s UNiTe campaign against violence towards women and girls.
Among other world landmarks, which turned orange were Maiden Tower in Istanbul (Turkey), Ada Bridge in Belgrade (Serbia), the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, the statue of a skier against the orange-lit backdrop of the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo (Norway), Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen (Denmark) etc.
In Belarus orange campaign is led by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in partnership with UNDP,UNICEF and IOM. The aim of the campaign is to raise public awareness to the problem of gender-based violence and domestic violence.
On the 4th of December UNFPA Assistant Representative, UNICEF Assistant Representative and UNDP representatives met Belarusian journalists at the building of National library to tell about orange campaign in Belarus and emphasize the importance of brining public and policy makers attention to the issue of gender-based and domestic violence in Belarus.
The UN representatives in Belarus told the media about the joint activities which were already in place, such as information campaigns against domestic violence ‘Kitchen, Children’s room and Bedroom without violence’, national hotline for the victims of domestic violence, webpage ostanovienasilie.org (‘stop violence’), orange ribbon campaign, photo-competition ‘Orange the world. Say No to violence’, demonstration of movies on the topic during UN led Human Rights Film Festival at Pobeda cinema.
Elena Kasko, UNFPA Assistant Representative in Belarus: "Today National Library has been lit orange. This is a part of information campaign ‘Orange the world. Say No to violence against women and girls’. Orange campaign is a yearly worldwide initiative UNiTE, led by UN Secretary-General, and realized by UN agencies and UN Women. The problem of gender-based violence is not a problem of specific regions and countries. It is a global concern. More than 600 million women live in the countries, where domestic violence is not considered a crime. In Belarus the most spread type of gender-based violence is domestic violence. One in three women, according to UNFPA research of 2014, noted that she faced one type of violence during her life, either economic, psychological, physical or sexual. More than fourth of those, who suffered from domestic violence, do not seek help. Today we conduct this campaign to break the silence and bring the issue of domestic violence from the private sphere to the public attention".
Mrs. Kasko mentioned the importance of the efforts taken by Belarus to counteract domestic violence, such as preparation of a specialized law on prevention and counteraction of domestic violence.
Special attention Elena allocated to the development of intersectoral cooperation in the field of counteracting domestic violence in Belarus. UNFPA has been supporting national efforts in establishing efficient intersectoral cooperation since 2012, from the launch of the International Technical Assistance Project ‘Developing National Capacity to Counteract Domestic Violence in Belarus’ (2012 – 2015)’. The key national implementing partner and coordinating agency of the Project is Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Belarus. The project is realized in cooperation with UNICEF and IOM.
Intersectoral groups formed in the pilot region of Brest include representatives of internal affairs agency, representatives of education and health institutions, territorial centers for social services and NGOs.
Positive changes can be observed in Belarusian legislation. A new law 'On basic activities aimed at offence prevention' entered into force on 16 April 2014 in Belarus. The law covers not only spouses and relatives, but other citizens sharing common apartment and household. This means these people are also protected by law. However, close relatives, residing at different places, but sharing household, including ex-spouses, who continue to share the same apartment, are not protected by law from domestic violence.
Orange campaign, which started on the 25th of November on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, would end on the 10th of December on the International Human Rights Day. The work on reaching gender equality in Belarus and counteracting domestic violence will be continued.
