In late 2001, V-Day launched a campaign called “Afghanistan Is Everywhere” through which V-Day 2002 Organizers from the Worldwide and College Campaigns were asked to provide information at their events about the plight of the women in Afghanistan who had no civil or human rights under the Taliban at that time. They were also encouraged to donate a percentage of their proceeds to Afghan women. The campaign, ‘Afghanistan Is Everywhere,’ focused on Afghan women with the broader intention to unite women worldwide by pointing out the similarities between the experiences of the women of Afghanistan and those of women and girls in other areas of the world and raised over $250,000 for the women of Afghanistan, opening schools and orphanages and providing education and healthcare.
The success of that campaign evolved into what is now the annual V-Day Spotlight. Each year V-Day spotlights a particular group of women who are experiencing violence with the goal of raising awareness and funds to put a worldwide media spotlight on this area and to raise funds to aide groups who are addressing it.
Following is a recap of the V-Day Spotlights to date:
V-Day 2008: The Women of New Orleans
V-Day 2007: Women In Conflict Zones
V-Day 2006: Justice to 'Comfort Women'
V-Day 2005: Women Of Iraq, Under Siege
V-Day 2004: Missing and Murdered Women In Juarez, Mexico
V-Day 2003: Native American and First Nations Women
V-Day 2002: Afghan Women
V-Day's 2008 Spotlight Campaign focuses on the Women of New Orleans. These women - Katrina Warriors - have come to symbolize the universal plight of women in conflict zones-- high levels of violence; economic hardship; racism; and public structures that failed to protect them. Katrina Warriors also highlight the dire need for resources to this still devastated community.
As Eve Ensler writes in her latest book
Insecure At Last: Losing It In Our Security Obsessed World, "What undid the people of New Orleans was, and remains, the lack of response, the feeling of being forgotten, the lack of a plan, the waiting, the humiliations that occurred on the backs of humiliations. The lack of respect."
In 2007 the V-Day Spotlight addresses Women in Conflict Zones because war exponentially increases the crimes of violence against women and girls. In equal measure the strength and resilience of women in rebuilding their communities and leading governments to peaceful solutions needs to be celebrated.
For women, not just during war but for decades to come, armed conflict means escalated military, sexual, and domestic violence, lack of security as a displaced person or refugee, and vulnerability to sex traffickers and coerced prostitution even by the peacekeepers themselves. Given the 21st century's escalating armed conflicts, impunity for wartime sexual violence cannot be tolerated. As patterns of wartime rape and sexual violence continue today in places such as Sudan, Congo, and Iraq, it is paramount to expose and condemn these crimes through international media coverage and public outcry and efforts in our communities themselves.
V-Day first took aim at wartime sexual violence with the 2002 Spotlight: Afghanistan Is Everywhere, followed by the 2005 Spotlight: Women of Iraq: Under Siege, and the 2006 Spotlight: The Global V-Day Campaign for Justice to 'Comfort Women.' Our 2007 Spotlight will continue to ensure that wartime sexual violence remains in the media and public eye.
August 2005 marked the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII. However, for the 'comfort women,' civilians forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military between 1932 and 1945, there has been no escape from the war and no answer for its harm. In support of these women and their fight for an official apology and compensation from the Japanese government, V-Day has joined with organizations across East and Southeast Asia to launch the "Global V-Day Campaign for Justice to 'Comfort Women.' Given the 21st century's escalating armed conflicts, the precedent of impunity for wartime sexual violence cannot be tolerated. Furthermore, as patterns of systematic rape and sexual violence continue today in places of armed conflict such as Sudan, Congo, and Iraq, the importance of recognizing the human rights atrocity committed against women during WWII is paramount. Therefore, V-Day is proud to not only join in the 'comfort women's' crusade for reparations, but to make the campaign the V-Day spotlight for 2006.
Since the US occupation and regime change in Iraq, women have lost more freedom than they've gained. Incidents of rape and abduction by organized gangs has increased fear of sexual violence, deterring women from returning to work or seeking employment and families from permitting their daughters to go to school. Victims refrain from contacting the police or hospitals, for fear of being killed for bringing shame on family honor. Armed conservative religious groups are pressuring schools and workplaces to require women and girls to wear the veil under threat of acid attack or abduction. Girls enrollment and attendance is on a steep dive across the country. Lack of jobs and security for women in general has forced some to resort to prostitution, at grave risk of honor killing.
Even under these conditions there are a few beacons of change and hope. Several Iraqi women’s organizations are braving the hostile climate and death threats to demand women’s representation in public bodies and are working to protect women on the ground.
With your help, we anticipate that our
2005 Spotlight: Women of Iraq, Under Siege will help effect real change in the violent conditions for women and girls in that city.
In the past decade, over 400 women and girls have been killed or disappeared in Juarez, immediately across the border from El Paso, Texas. Many of the victims were raped, mutilated and tortured. On V-Day (February 14) 2004, over seven thousand women and men from all over the world joined the V-Day March on Juarez to honor the missing and murdered women, their families, and the grassroots groups that are working on the ground. Our 2004 Spotlight on the Missing and Murdered women of Juarez raised over $175,000 for local groups working in Juarez with the families of the murdered women and those that provide direct services, garnered worldwide media coverage via the March on Juarez, and numerous feature articles on the issue.
In 2003, V-Day launched “Afghanistan Is Everywhere: A Spotlight on Native American and Canadian First Nations Women” to bring attention to Indian women who experience violence at a rate 3.5 times that of any other race (according to the U.S. Department of Justice). This Spotlight raised nearly $100,000 to support the opening of a safe house on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and to further initiatives to end violence against women and girls in Indian Country.
V-Day has a long-standing commitment to the women of Afghanistan. In 1999 Eve Ensler and V-Day co-founder Willa Shalit traveled with women inside Afghanistan, visiting secret schools for girls and meeting with women working to keep hope alive within their country.
Our work with Afghan women accelerated in 2002. V-Day and Equality Now, with Afghan leader Sima Wali, began planning for the Afghan Women’s Summit for Democracy on September 22nd, 2001. This was an immediate response to an unforeseen crisis and opportunity.
