Representatives of Argyll and Bute Council and its partners will take part in two sponsored walks on Sunday 27 November to show their support for Violence Against Women’s 16 days of action.

The walks will take place in North Argyll and Cowal and members of the public are welcome to join in and show their support.  All money raised will go to help the violence against women cause. 

Chair of the Argyll and Bute Against Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women multi agency partnership Councillor Anne Horn said, “We wanted to contribute to Violence Against Women’s 16 days of action.  By getting involved at the beginning we hope to bring the often silent subject of abuse against women out into the open.  I hope that as many people as possible can join us in our walk and that together we can make abuse a thing of the past in Argyll and Bute.” 

Editor’s notes

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, 25 November, International Day Against Violence Against Women, and 10 December, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a human rights violation. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates, including 29 November, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, 1 December, World AIDS Day, and 6 December, the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. The 16 Days of Activism focuses on:

*           raising awareness at the local, national, regional and international levels about gender-based violence

*           strengthening local work

*           linking local and global work

*           providing a forum for dialogue and strategy-sharing

*           pressuring governments to implement commitments made in national and international legal instruments

*           demonstrating the solidarity of activists around the world