The Launch of the United Nations Campaign Against Violence Against Women

Next Saturday, the UN will launch its global campaign against violence against women in Morocco under the slogan “A positive masculinity”, a campaign that will last for 16 days of awareness-raising activities, accompanied by a social media campaign under the hashtag #Hit_Ana_Rajel.

The campaign, which coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, will take the form of an open public event starting at 2 p.m. at Harti Square in Marrakech’s famous Gueliz district, with an opening speech followed by several artistic activities and interactive meetings with the public in the stands of a number of national organizations and ministries, including the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality and the Family, the Ministry of Health, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the General Directorate of National Security and the Office of the High Commissioner for Planning, as well as civil society organizations, United Nations organizations and the media, which will promote national efforts to end violence against women.

During this campaign, several monuments and public buildings will be illuminated and decorated in orange. These include the headquarters of the General Directorate of National Security, the Mohammed VI Museum, the Maroc Telecom Tower, the Moroccan motorways and the Rabat-Agdal TGV station, as part of the “Orange Day” operation, which symbolizes a better world for women and takes place worldwide.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, which organizes the campaign on behalf of the United Nations in Morocco, has chosen to involve men in this campaign to raise awareness in society of the positive roles that men can play in promoting gender equality and preventing and combating violence against women.

In this context, this year’s campaign will feature the participation of committed artists, including Fnaïre, Anis Chouchene, Moustapha Romli, Souad Sahel, Kabaret Cheikhats, Fayçal Azizi and Taoufiq Izeddiou, who will express their rejection of violence through music, slam, dance and the visual arts.

Organized since 2008 at the call of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the global campaign of “16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women and Girls” is held every year from 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, International Human Rights Day. Awareness-raising activities are organized throughout the 16 days in order to reach as many people as possible, to promote and strengthen awareness, while giving new impetus to efforts to mobilize and share knowledge and innovations.