Dr. Lydia Abela, the Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms and Equality Rebecca Buttigieg and the Commissioner for Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence Samantha Pace Gasan launched a campaign of 16 days of activism with domestic violence awareness. With the theme “Beat The Silence”, in these days a message will continue to be delivered in favor of overcoming the silence suffered by the victims of domestic violence and will continue to be given knowledge related to the subject.
The Prime Minister’s wife Dr. Lydia Abela stressed that awareness of domestic violence remains always important but particularly in these days of activism a solid message is delivered to increase awareness on the subject. She emphasized education in relation to domestic violence and help for victims. Dr. Abela claimed that the fact that a person asks for help because of domestic violence is not an act of weakness and here she pointed out steps and actions that are being taken to address the realities of domestic violence. “The changes and reforms that are constantly being pushed remain the best tool to combat domestic violence,” claimed Lydia Abela. She did not only greet victims of domestic violence but also the professionals and workers who work with the victims.
Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms and Equality, Rebecca Buttigieg emphasized that this year’s theme is a call from the heart so that people who are experiencing both gender-based and domestic violence seek the professional help.
“I want to emphasize that this campaign is aimed not only at victims of violence based on gender and domestic violence, but must also reach other individuals such as relatives, friends and colleagues so that they too must have the courage and speak up where they should speak, to stop the violence and thus be of help and support for victims,” said Parliamentary Secretary Buttigieg.
The Parliamentary Secretary added that this 16-day campaign is neither the beginning nor the end of the work we must do both as a Government and as a society, to fight domestic violence. “In this campaign we will boost our work with several initiatives, including a Strategy and Action Plan spread over five years, because this problem is on our agenda throughout the days of the year “, said Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg.
Commissioner on Gender Based Violence and Domestic Violence Samantha Pace Gasan said that during the 16 day campaign, the Commission together with several Ministries, associations, entities and organizations, designed a program full of initiatives and activities with the aim of raising awareness about the complexity of gender-based violence and domestic violence while through collective activism, people who are experiencing gender-based violence gender and domestic violence are encouraged to overcome silence and seek help. Pace Gasan explained that several initiatives will be organized that affect various social groups, including the elderly, children, communities in our country, sportsmen and workers from various sectors.
