The Silent Witness Campaign

In  2008, the international campaign ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence’ began on November 25th, International Day Against Violence Against Women and ended on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

‘November 25th was declared International Day against Violence to Women at the first Feminist Encuentro for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Bogota, Colombia in 1981. At that meeting, women condemned all types of gender violence, ranging from domestic battery, to rape and sexual harassment, to state-based violence including torture and abuses of women political prisoners. In 1999, the United Nations officially recognized November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. (CAFRA) /T&T)

The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) notes the persistence of ‘a high degree of social acceptance of this violence, despite the existence of a wealth of […] instruments that classify violence against women as a serious crime. Social norms perceive violence as a normal part of women’s lives that is justified when women do not live up to the stereotyped female role.

This reality is evident not only in the silencing and/or trivialization of many acts that constitute crimes, but also in women’s difficulty and reluctance to report violence and see offenders punished. The lack of timely access to justice makes matters worse for women survivors of violence as it favors impunity and thus allows such acts to become even more widespread.’

WACC issued a ‘call to action’ for the ‘16 Days Campaign’ in 2008 urging groups to engage with media in innovative ways to bring visibility to violence against women, a human rights’ issue often accompanied and perpetuated by silence and denial.

The Silent Witness Campaign is one such innovative application of media. It brings gender violence out of private and into public spaces, a powerful reminder that domestic violence concerns us all.

‘Silent Witnesses are displays of life-sized red wooden figures of women who have been murdered in acts of domestic violence. Breastplate shields give each woman's name/or initials and her story. They are exhibited on the streets and parks, in schools, universities, exhibition spaces in order to remind and warn on possible consequences of un-prevented domestic violence’. (Nebojsa Radics)

The Campaign was founded in 1990 in the United States. Its mission is to promote peace, healing, and responsibility in adult relationships in order to eliminate domestic murders.

The Campaign’s goals are: to remember women who have been murdered through domestic violence; to raise awareness on the extent of domestic violence; to advocate for an end to the violence; and, to collect statistics to support advocacy for the enactment and implementation of anti-domestic violence laws.

The Network of NGOs of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of Women replicated the Silent Witness Campaign in several locations in the Port of Spain, Trinidad.

In collaboration with UNIFEM and the University of the West Indies, the Network staged a moving ‘silent witnesses’ exhibit in several locations in the Port of Spain, Trinidad. The exhibit joined other events in CAFRA's March against Domestic Violence to commemorate the 16 Days on November 29, 2008.

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