18-day Campaign to End VAW kicks-off today: “CEDAW ng Bayan: ReMOVE VAW”

The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) in partnership with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), Inter-Agency Council on Violence Against Women and Children (IACVAWC), and Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee (VAWCC) launches today the Search for Outstanding VAW-Responsive LGUs and the Gender Justice Awards II at the Astoria Plaza Hotel, Ortigas in Pasig City, marking the start of the 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women.

The “Search for the Outstanding VAW-Responsive LGUs” aims to recognize innovative programs and methods of addressing VAW. The award is open to all barangays, municipalities and cities with clear policies, programs, services and interventions, and implementing and monitoring mechanisms to address VAW.

The Gender Justice Awards II will recognize four Gender Sensitive Judges from the NCR, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the Most Outstanding Gender-Sensitive Judge, and the Gender Sensitive Judge from the Shar’ia Courts. Judges from the Lower Courts up to the Regional Trial Courts, whether incumbent or retired (but incumbent at the time of nomination), who have handled a case involving violence against women (VAW) and have rendered a gender-sensitive decision, during the period January 2004 to December 2008 may be nominated.

These two awards complement the theme for this year’s commemoration of the 18-day Campaign to End VAW, “CEDAW ng Bayan: ReMOVE VAW”. Nomination forms and details are downloadable from the ncrfw website, www.ncrfw.gov.ph.

The 18-Day Campaign to End VAW is originally known as the 16-Day of Activism Against Gender Violence. It is an annual event observed by women’s groups all over the world that runs from November 25 (International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women) to December 10 (International Human Rights Day). November 25 and December 10 were chosen to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that VAW is a violation of human rights.

In the Philippines, Presidential Proclamation 1172 extended the Campaign to 18 days to include December 12, a historic date that marked the adoption in Palermo, Italy of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, which is supplemented by the Protocol to Prevent and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.