16 Days of Activism focuses on ending violence against women

Through the union's Committee for Equality and Social Action, HSA is supporting the "We Can" campaign to end violence against women. The campaign kicks off in Vancouver with a dinner November 25 featuring guest speakers Mona Mehta of Oxfam Great Britain, Sandra Moran, of Guatemala's Women's Sector of the Civil Society, and Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada.

HSA has a limited number of free tickets for this dinner available. If you would like tickets, please send an email to: @email.

The 16 days of activism against gender violence is an international campaign that runs from November 25, the International Day Against Violence Against Women to December 10, which is International Human Rights Day. These dates were chosen to symbolically link violence against women with human rights violations. The 16-day period also includes other significant dates such as November 29, International Women Human Rights Defender Day; December 1, World AIDS Day; December 3, International Day of Disabled Persons, and December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

This year's theme is Human Rights for Women - Human Rights for All. It connects gender violence to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th, 2008, bringing the issue of women's rights to the forefront of the celebration.

For a calendar of events, click here.