‘Orange the World in 16 Days’

Hundreds of people across a wide spectrum of students, women’s welfare organisations, NGOs, Rotary Clubs, Lions Club, government officials and self-help groups took out five rallies from different places which converged on Beach Road on Tuesday to commemorate the United Nations-initiated ‘Orange the World in 16 Days’ for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Participants came dressed in various shades of orange with orange caps, balloons, ribbons and flags. The massive rally was initiated by the Puducherry State Resource Centre for Women.

“The huge turnout has helped in creating awareness of violence against women. We wanted to impress upon the government the importance of creating a violence-free environment,” said P. Priytarshny, Managing Director, Puducherry State Resource Centre for Women.

Twentyfive young women presented a petition to Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, a canvas with their hand prints in orange and with the message, ‘Create a safe environment for us.’ The culmination of the rally had speeches from representatives of women’s organisations and students. It was also attended by Mr. Rangasamy and Social Welfare Minister P. Rajavelu.

Every year, November 25 and the ensuing 16 days of activism against gender violence are commemorated around the world with different events marking the awareness campaign. This year’s theme is ‘Orange the World in 16 Days’ where people are being invited to wear orange — the official colour of the Unite to End Violence Against Women campaign.

United Nations has been observing the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to mark the assassination in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters who were political activists in The Dominican Republic.