United Nations to Observe One Billion Rising at UN Headquarters

The United Nations will observe one billion rising at its office in New York City, announces one billion rising in a press release.

V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, announces the final escalation of its year-long ONE BILLION RISING campaign.  Today, 14 February, women and men in 203 countries will come together in the largest day of mass action ever to stop violence against women and girls, to express their outrage, and to strike, dance and RISE to support an end to violence against women once and for all.

“February 14, 2013 will change the world not because it is a day of magic, although there are indeed mystical elements surrounding this campaign. It will change the world because the preparation for it and organizing for it has already created an energetic wind or wave igniting existing efforts to end violence against women and create new ones,” said V-Day Founder and award winning playwright Eve Ensler. “It has brought together coalitions of groups and individuals that have never worked together before; brought in all kinds of new people and groups and associations and masses of men who are not aware of the issue but are now working on it; brought violence against women, through our numbers and efforts to the center of the discussion. On February 14, we are rising together because it is in our connectedness, in our stomping feet and uncontrollable hips that the path and energy will be created to bring in a new world. We will galvanize the will and the passion of everyone rising around the world to create change.”

The campaign is leveraging the strength of V-Day’s 15-year activist network in colleges and communities worldwide and utilizing the power of social media to catalyze action on a global scale. Through a series of videos, including the One Billion Rising short film (http://vday.org/shortfilm) which has already surpassed 600,000 views on YouTube, a music video called“Break The Chain,” the accompanying how-to dance videos by renowned choreographer Debbie Allen, and hugely successful video series “I Am Rising ” – in which activists and celebrities shared their reason for rising – V-Day has invited a global audience to rise together against violence and show the world what one billion looks like.

The campaign, launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. On 14 February, 2013, people across the world will come together to express their outrage, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women.

Author: Binta A Bah