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A new digital and PR campaign to raise awareness of violence against women and girls has been launched by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. The initiative is in collaboration with Southern Health and Social Care Trust, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust and Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council and the campaign will coincide with the UN Women 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence.
The ‘#No Excuse’ campaign begins this Monday 25 November, the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. The campaign will include 3 ‘Information Sessions’ taking place on Monday 25 November in Newry Leisure Centre, Tuesday 26 November in Down Leisure Centre and Wednesday 27 November in South Lakes Leisure Centre between 10am to 2pm, to raise community awareness of this issue.
Speaking about the campaign Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Pete Byrne said: “Violence against women and girls is a deep-rooted issue and has most recently been highlighted across Government and PSNI frameworks and strategies, as it is a problem that continues to effect people across our District and beyond. There is something that we all can do to help with shaping a safer future for women and girls and we are delivering this campaign to raise awareness of this issue in our own communities to empower all of us to speak up and say there is ‘No Excuse’ for certain behaviours.”
The ’Information Sessions’ are open to all and will enable women and girls to drop-in anonymously to learn more about what services are available across the district for those experiencing gender-based violence. Representatives from the Council’s Safeguarding Team, both Trusts and Women’s Aid and other support organisations will be in attendance.
The aim of the ‘#No Excuse’ campaign is to highlight the issues that are prevalent in our society in relation to violence against women and girls. Statistics used throughout the campaign show how women and girls are impacted from the harmful attitudes and behaviours exhibited by men and boys.
Violence against women and girls is a systemic and deep-rooted problem in our society. People sometimes think of violence as physical assault only, however violence against women and girls takes many forms, such as sexual harassment, discrimination, misogyny, financial abuse, emotional violence, stalking and online abuse. There is no excuse to these behaviours and there is something that all of us can do in our daily lives to shape a better, safer and more inclusive future for everyone.
The latest campaign has been developed by the Council’s Safeguarding team and Women’s Working Group through partnership with Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, Southern Health and Social Care Trust and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. Promoting our new ‘#No Excuse’ campaign across local media and our social media channels.
