MSDF launches campaign against gender-based violence

Doha, Qatar: The Ministry of Social Development and Family (MSDF), represented by the Family Development Department, yesterday announced the launch of...

Doha, Qatar: The Ministry of Social Development and Family (MSDF), represented by the Family Development Department, yesterday announced the launch of the annual international campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

The campaign’s key objectives are to bolster community awareness about issues of violence against women and girls, highlight its physical, psychological, social, and economic impacts, promote a culture of societal rejection of all forms of violence and abuse, and empower women and girls to know their rights and protection mechanisms.

The core objectives also focus on empowering service-providing entities to familiarize them with, and facilitate access to, the required services, emphasise the role of legislative and executive bodies in adopting policies and laws that protect women and girls, and involve all segments of the community so that they become part of the change.

The campaign, initiated by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, was launched in parallel with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and will run annually through 10 December, coinciding with Human Rights Day.

It engages a wide range of government and non-government organizations, civil society, and human rights activists in the country through awareness activities that spotlight multiple forms of violence and abuse against women, in pursuit of protecting women and empowering them.