16 Days is a global campaign to end violence against women, beginning on 25th November and ending on 10th December, Human Rights Day. The campaign was launched in 1991, and is coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL)
The campaign began to ‘help bridge the women’s rights and labour rights movements’, and there are many opportunities for sex workers to get involved with the campaign. CWGL has produced a campaign guide to provide more information for groups that wish to get involved.
Many of the issues raised in the campaign overlap directly with areas NSWP members work on, and NSWP’s Consensus Statement on Sex Work, Human Rights and the Law, including highlighting women’s right to live free from violence:
“Human rights standards uphold that all forms of GBV, including those taking place in the world of work, prohibit the enjoyment by women workers of the right to live free from violence, among other human rights and fundamental freedoms… Women must be able to work in conditions of safety and security, with dignity, agency, and autonomy.”
The United Nations family, the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and their partners have also joined the global campaign 16 days of activism with the theme “#NoJustification – Together Against Violence Against Women and Girls“.