CENWOR-Press Release

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender Based ViolenceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ which commences on 25th of November is an international campaign to raise awareness on this critical issue. The Centre for WomenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Research (CENWOR) with the support of Women Defining Peace (WDP) will launch ACT NOW, a web portal in Sinhala, Tamil and English, on the 8th of December 2011 to support efforts in eliminating violence against women. The event will take place at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The Chief Guest on this occasion will be Hon. Ms. Eva Wanasundera, Attorney General of Sri Lanka and the Guest of Honour will be HE Bruce Levy, Canadian High Commissioner.

The ACT NOW web portal, located at www.actnowsrilanka.org has resources for the victim-survivor, bystanders, activists, academics and individuals and organisations working on the issue. What constitutes gender based violence and violence against women, the different types of violence – domestic violence, rape, grave sexual abuse, sexual harassment, incest, trafficking, cyber violence are explained and legal remedies that are available to address these types of violence are included in this site. Comprehensive information for the bystander to intervene and take a stand against violence, details of service providers throughout the country, organisations combating VAW as well as a data base are included. The web portal also provides an opportunity for victim-survivors to share their stories and for womenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s rights activists to form partnerships.

The content was developed with the support of Young ResearcherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Collective (YRC) and the site was developed by Voltage (Pvt) Ltd.

The Centre for WomenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Research (CENWOR) is a non governmental organization that has been working on gender issues since 1984 by undertaking policy oriented research, community action programmes, information dissemination and advocacy.

Women Defining Peace (WDP) is a project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented by a Consortium of WUSC and COWATER.