Pretoria - Government's 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign will be launched at the Union Buildings on Monday.
The campaign is expected to be launched with the lighting of the Torch of Peace by the Minister for Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities, Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya and the Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Yunus Carrim.
The launch will be attended by a number of ministers and senior government officials as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith-based organisations (FBOs), business, traditional leaders, state-owned enterprises, civil society and the media
The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children is a United Nations-endorsed campaign. It aims to raise awareness about the abuse of women and children and mobilise all sectors of society to act together against abuse and to support the victims and survivors of abuse.
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the programme and stakeholders will be taking stock of the work done in the past decade.
Mayende-Sibiya said on Thursday the media would play an important role in popularising the campaign by providing editorial space informing people of the campaign.
She said the department's goal was to increase the impact of the campaign. "Our goal is to increase the impact of this campaign as well as effect behavioral change," said Mayende-Sibiya.
This year's campaign will also include a summit which will be held on Wednesday with the closured of the campaign scheduled for 10 December.
Mayende-Sibiya said the department's major challenge is to reduce violence against women and children in the country.
