16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
(November 25 - December 10, 2001)
CROATIA

23 November 2001
www.babe.hr/eng

Dear Wonderful Women, Friends and Activists,

I would like to provide a brief account of today's activity for the 16
Days of Activism Against Gender Violence in Croatia. Although the 16
Days has not yet begun, today we held a press conference to prepare
journalists, activists, and those interested on the following activities
to come. Sanja Sarnavka from B.a.B.e. and Neva Tole from Autonomous
Women's House presented information on our groups, our activities and
the cartoon which will be shown on Television.

We presented the following:
1) A statement made by B.a.B.e. and sent to all catholic bishops and
religious leaders in Croatia, calling on them to promote violence
against women during the holy seasons. We asked Catholic bishops, to add
domestic violence into their liturgy, when they speak of Peace during
advent.
2) News brief asking for stronger laws in regard to domestic violence
3) Our radio "jingle" (which is the same as the cartoon made for TV). We
sent letters to 30 radio stations across Croatia asking them to play our
short "jingle." We got 26 out of 30 affirmative replies, with a promise
that it will be played more then 20 times during the 16 Days.
4) Presented our TV cartoon and stickers. The TV cartoon received
wonderful feedback. For the first time ever, Croatian National
Television has agreed to air our cartoon. The TV show, "Good Morning
Croatia," not only promised to show our cartoon, but will dedicate
plenty of air time for a full report on the 16 days and violence against
women.
5) We tried to show that the 16 Days is a strong INTERNATIONAL campaign,
not just restricted to a few handful of women in Croatia. For this
purpose, we distributed the Centre for Women's Global Leadership's 21
page calendar of events occurring all over the world for the 16 Days.
6) Autonomous Women's House presented vital points on what are the
needs of the shelter.

Tomorrow on Saturday 24, B.a.B.e. have also invited the media to witness
the installation of our huge billboard poster in the city Centre,
Zagreb. On Tuesday 27,  B.a.B.e.'s radio show will be dedicated to the
16 Days and real life stories and interviews of women victims of
domestic violence.

On Monday we expect to be in full gear and ready for action. Good luck
to everyone!!!

BAKGROUND NOTE: Autonomous Women's House (Shelter) only have 10 beds for 
women and 19 beds for children. The population for where they are
located, Zagreb, has a population of approximately 900 thousand people.
Croatia has a population of around 4.5 million people.  The Autonomous
Women's House is the only shelter in Croatia!
During 10 their years of existence they received over 10,000 women
victims of domestic violence into the shelter. For every women they
accept into the shelter they have to reject 4 other women victims who
need shelter because of lack of space and resources. And what is the
governments response? Women in Croatia are valued so much that the only
women's shelter in Croatia, gets 30% of their budget covered by the
government of Croatia.  If you would like to make donation to the
Autonomous Women's House (Shelter) please contact Neva Tole or Nella
Pamukovic at [EMAIL PROTECTED]


Warmest Regards,

Kristina Mihalec

B.a.B.e. - Be active, Be emancipated - Women's Human Rights Group
Vlaska 79, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
tel/fax: +385 1 46 11 686
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CyberBaBe: www.babe.hr



Reply via email to