No.12 - 11/2005
21 November 2005

Human Rights

WLB to launch White Ribbon Campaign

A 16-day campaign urging men to wear white ribbons as a personal pledge "never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women" is to be launched by Women's League of Burma (WLB) beginning 25 November, says woman activist Nang Hseng Noung.

Four main events will be covered during the campaign period:

• 25 November - International Day for Eradication of Violence Against Women
• 1 December - World AIDS Day
• 6 December - 16th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre
• 10 December - World Human Rights Day

The White Ribbon Campaign was actually started by Canadian men working to end violence against women two years after 14 women students were killed by an anti-feminist lone gunman.

The Toronto-based group has urged, among others:

• Men to wear a white ribbon, or hang them from their house, their vehicle or at their work place
• All organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, to make it an issue of priority
• Governments to pass laws against all forms of violence against women

"(December 6) should be a day for men to step back and listen to the voices of women," also reads a flyer from the University of Massachusetts.

Rangoon has called the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN)'s License to Rape and other related reports on sexual violence committed by the Burma Army as "preposterous accusations."