It’s Time: 16 Days of Activism, 2020

It’s our favorite time of the year! To mark each of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (November 25 – December 10), Nobel Women’s Initiative will once again share stories of activists whose inspiring work you may not have yet heard of. In a year when a global pandemic has forced all of us to change how we live, we will highlight the formidable forces who are influencing positive change in communities around the world — from grassroots advocates to our own Nobel peace laureates.

You will read about extraordinary women activists working hard to free political prisoners, fight for Indigenous rights, secretly shelter survivors of gender violence, ban killer robots, and more. 

Each of the 16 peacebuilders and changemakers we profile this year are inspiring embodiments of the #16Days Campaign challenge: What we can do locally and personally to end violence against women, girls, and LGBTQ2 folks?

For many months before the pandemic shut down travel around the world, Nobel Women’s Initiative had been hard at work planning a conference to bring together women human rights defenders from the Middle East and North Africa region to strategize and plan. When travel restrictions were imposed, we decided to amplify their work in other ways. And so, this year’s 16 Days will focus especially on the stories of some of these courageous activists — with a healthy sprinkling of stories of women from other parts of the world as well.

We are honoured to amplify 16 important stories over #16Days. Please read and pass them on. Tell your own story of activism. Engage with other #16Days content. Spark conversations. How will you make #16Days count?

Join us…

Subscribe by email and have a profile delivered to your inbox each day of the 16 Days of Activism, or connect with @NobelWomen and #16Days on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Wanda Muñoz, Mexico Wanda Muñoz is a long-time activist working on humanitarian disarmament (currently banning killer robots), improving the lives of people with disabilities and providing assistance to victims of war.

Omaima Al Najjar, Saudi Arabia Omaima is a blogger, activist, nurse, physician, AND human rights defender!