A woman wears a 16 Days’ T-shirt during the 2024 campaign of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe. Photo: ELCZ
‘End digital violence against women and girls’ is the theme of this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign
(LWI) - Harassment in your inbox is just as harmful as harassment in the street. That is why the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is joining this year’s 16 Days of Activism global campaign with its theme ‘End digital violence against all women and girls’. The annual advocacy campaign kicks off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and runs through until Human Rights Day on 10 December.
While digital technologies have brought huge opportunities for women to connect, share and support each other, online violence is now one of the fastest-growing forms of abuse, according to the United Nations and other women‘s rights organizations. Among the goals of this year’s 16 Days campaign is awareness raising, alongside a call for stronger prevention measures including codes of conduct, content moderation policies and stronger legislation to protect women and girls.
“Churches and faith-based organizations can play a key role in advancing those goals,” says Sikhonzile Ndlovu, LWF Senior Advocacy Officer for Gender Justice. “We know that violence of any kind violates our God-given dignity and disrupts relationships that God intends to be marked by justice, love and respect. We can make a difference by mobilizing our networks, supporting survivors and raising our voices for action to end all forms of cyberviolence and abuse.”
Global and local activities
As the campaign kicks off on Tuesday, Ndlovu will join LWF leaders in the Geneva Communion Office for a discussion about this year’s campaign objectives, highlighting the multilingual resources, including fact sheets, prayers and Bible studies, posters, banners and suggested social media posts, that are freely available for use by churches, congregations, schools or other community groups wanting to participate.
Many of the LWF member churches and country programs will be organizing activities at local or national level as part of their participation in this year’s campaign. These include churches in Bolivia, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and South Africa, as well as the LWF Jordan and Syria program. Activities range from staff training sessions, couples counselling, prayers and testimonies to community dialogues, flashmobs, interactive workshops and cyber hygiene sessions.
Youth can lead the charge to ensure that digital spaces are safe for women, girls, and all people
Savanna Sullivan, LWF Program Executive for Youth
On 29 November, LWF Youth will be leading a 16-hour online vigil with prayers, reflections and small group discussions led by young people from different regions of the world. They will also be continuing their purple flower project which launched last year on social media, using art to reflect on the meaning of hope and resilience in the face of gender-based violence.
“Though access to technology still varies widely across regions and socioeconomic status, notes Savanna Sullivan, LWF Program Executive for Youth, “digital literacy is relatively high among young people globally, with youth spending more time online than older generations. She emphasizes that young people have a vital role to play in ending cyberviolence, including gender-based cyberviolence. “Youth can lead the charge to ensure that digital spaces are safe for women, girls, and all people,” she adds.
Two LWF webinars will also be taking place on 2 and 9 December, the first featuring gender justice advocates from some of the member churches, country programs and LWF partners, the second exploring ways of partnering effectively with men and boys to create safe digital spaces. You can register for all three of these events on our website.
