The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest – The ’16 for 16’ 2015 Edition

Welcome to our annual Special Edition of The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest for the “16 For 16” campaign. In this edition, we bring you the top 16 news headlines in each category related to violence against women from the past year.

2015 saw landmark decisions by countries to eradicate female genital mutilation as Nigeria and Gambia both outlaw the practice and the United Kingdom makes it compulsory to report its occurrence. Initiatives against domestic violence have also seen progress with countries adopting new measures to help protect women. Silicon Valley giants like Twitter, Reddit and Google have also taken steps to decrease occurrence of violence against women online.

To start off, here are the 16 of the biggest trending VAW headlines of 2015:

Sabeen Mahmud, the woman behind Pakistan’s first hackathon, was shot and murdered. She is one of the many women activists who were murdered for their activism, including nine women’s rights defenders this year.
The Beijing Platform turns 20 this year, but China’s feminists marked the women’s conference with silence.
ISIS dominated the headlines of world news around the year, their name becoming synonymous with brutal forms of violence against women. The Syrian refugee crisis that it has caused is also mired with issues of violence against women, particularly of refugees.
Nepal was struck by a devastating earthquake, attracting human traffickers preying on women and girls made vulnerable by the tragedy.
The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone momentarily halted female genital mutilation (FGM), although sex crimes increased.
Both Nigeria and Gambia made significant progress in eradicating FGM by outlawing the practice.
It has now become compulsory to report any cases of FGM in the United Kingdom.
Spain and Malawi have increased the age of consent of marriage, with Spain’s age of consent moved up to 16 and Malawi moved up to 18.
Government-run initiatives against domestic violence are taking place around the world: Clare’s Law in Scotland allows women to find out whether their partners have a history of domestic violence and Papua New Guinea has established a free hotline for victims of domestic violence.
Amnesty International calls for the legalisation of the sex trade, sparking debate about sex work and sex trafficking. Read about how decriminalisation has fared in New Zealand and how prosecuting customers of sex work has fared in Sweden.
The United Nations became embroiled in controversy, resulting in the resignation of a UN official, when French peacekeeping troops were alleged to have committed sexual assault in the Central African Republic.
Mass protests in Argentina helped to highlight cases of feminicide across Latin America, including in El Salvador, Mexico and Brazil, where laws are designed to tackle it.
The United States had convicted the first person for involvement in revenge porn. This conviction, shows progress in handling violence against women through the Internet. Other moves include Reddit’s steps to decrease online harassment and Twitter tackling revenge porn.
Celebrities fell under the spotlight of discussion about violence against women. Oscar Pistorius has recently been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend after a long and highly publicised trial, comedian Bill Cosby has been accused by numerous women of rape, and Angelina Jolie’s campaign to end sexual violence in war has been criticised for its costliness.
Be encouraged by the successful campaign to eradicate FGM in Iraqi Kurdistan and decrease of child sex trafficking in Cambodia.
Be inspired by the actions of ordinary people, such as Dr. Denis Mukegwe in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a tattoo artist in Brazil who helps domestic violence survivors tattoo over their scars, a father-and-daughter team working to help survivors of sex trafficking in India, and a grocer in Mali helping to eradicate FGM.

Every contribution matters. If you have any news you’d like to share about violence against women, please email The Pixel Project at info@thepixelproject.net. If you prefer to receive up-to-the-minute news concerning violence against women, follow us on Twitter . It’s time to stop violence against women together.

Best regards,
The Pixel Project Team

Violence Against Women – General

Domestic Violence

Rape and Sexual Assault

Human/Sex Trafficking

Female Genital Mutilation

Forced Marriage and Honour Killing

Activism

The Pixel Project's "16 For 16" Campaign

The Pixel Project's annual campaign featuring 16 articles about Violence Against Women in honour of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence

The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest – The ’16 for 16’ 2015 Edition