International Day to End Violence Against Women 2024: End the Genocide
To mark International Day to End Violence Against Women and the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, Karama renews our call to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the appalling violence of the occupation.
The war in Gaza represents one of the most catastrophic conflicts for women and girls. Researchers estimate that “more women and children killed in Gaza by Israeli military than any other recent conflict in a single year.”
As such we cannot talk about a global campaign to end violence against women and girls without putting Palestine front and center. The conflict in Gaza is sadly only the most recent affront to the rights of women and girls to live in peace, free from violence. Palestinian women have for decades lived under the oppression of occupation, with is myriad affronts to their dignity.
War and occupation are perhaps the most significant barriers to achieving a world without violence against women and girls. For International Day to End Violence Against Women and the start of the 16 Days of Activism, we will be foregrounding the testimony of survivors of gender-based violence under the occupation.
On this day, there will be many people reaffirming their commitment to ending violence against women and girls. Any politician, any diplomat, any activist truly concerned with this vital cause must confront the genocide and occupation in Palestine as a priority, or they are not serious in their rhetoric.