25N+16 Ni Una Más: a united call to end violence against women and girls

25N+16 Ni Una Más.
A united call to end to violence aganst women and girls

Musicians, visual artists, activists, journalists, photographers, filmmakers and human rights defenders have united to create 25N+16 Ni Una Más, an audiovisual piece promoted by the Spotlight Initiative Mexico for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.

In Mexico, between 10 and 11 women are killed every 24 hours because of their gender. Femicide, which is the most extreme form of violence against women, is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gender-based violence in the country – 66 per cent of women in Mexico have experienced at least one incident of emotional, economic, physical or sexual violence or discrimination throughout their lives.

"I dreamed of a place where no woman dies at the hands of a man who has sworn that he loves her. Where women are protected from girlhood and skin colour does not define you before the law,” sings Oaxacan rapper Mare in 25N+16 Ni Una Más. “There's no discrimination, let alone violence. Where you don’t disappear… Then I woke up and saw that this reality remains a longing. But I do not have to accept that it is only a dream, I know that one day we will see it.”

"Violence against women is not normal. It is the foundation that sustains an unequal system,” adds Obeja Negra, rapper and activist from Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua. “Marked different at birth, getting used to it is another way to die. Asking for help is an opportunity to get out. We don't want to go on like this! We deserve to enjoy and smile!"

25N+16 Ni Una Más is a collaborative video that celebrates the growing movement of women, girls and adolescents raising their voices against gender-based violence and demanding to live a life free of violence.

It also calls on society at large, and in particular men, not to exercise or allow any violence against women and to instead build respectful, non-violent, just and egalitarian relationships.

"No action can happen in isolation. Today, we need everyone’s voice,” says Cecilia Suarez, UN Global Advocate for Spotlight Initiative in the video.

Lydia Cacho, journalist and spokesperson for the Spotlight Initiative Mexico also lends her support.

"We are the daughters of force, we have power,” she says. “We are the ones who leave their mark… the ones who do not break in the face of corruption.”

"This November 25th is the time for all of society to say, ‘No more discrimination against women in any form!’" says Belén Sanz, UN Women Mexico Representative and UN Acting Resident Coordinator in Mexico.

By Eloísa Farrera