Campaign to be held in Ahmedabad against domestic violence

The 5th 'We Can Campaign' national assembly, titled 'Ru-ba-Ru - Barabari aur Behtari ke Khayalon sey', will be held in Ahmedabad on February 3 and 4 at the Greenwoods Resort. The campaign creates awareness on various aspects of domestic violence and social violence which are frequently linked.

It completed six years in November 2010 and culminated in a South Asia Regional Campaign at Nepal in March 2011.

The national assembly at Ahmedabad will try to look beyond the 'family' and do a wider analysis of the current situation regarding violence against women. "The challenge before us is to create a mindset that rejects violence in totality," said a member, Deepak Kabir from UP.

Explaining the aim of the movement, Sophia Khan, also a member, said that the campaign had raised and sustained growing public awareness in six participating nations - India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Greater awareness about biases, inequalities and various forms of violence inflicted on women had been created, Khan said. "More significantly, it has acted as a trigger for a new consciousness, an attitudinal change and enhancement of rights in a comprehensive manner," she said.

Kabir further said: "The realisation after March 2011 that the participating nations like Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India had decided to continue with the campaign on the premise: 'This is not enough, we need to do more together!' " He said that in India today the campaign was being driven by over 2,800 organizations and individuals. "Approximately 2.5 million change-makers have been mobilised to act as change agents," he added.