SILVER SPRING, Md.--On Tuesday, October 13, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and the Women's Ministries Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church launched enditnow, a global campaign that raises awareness and advocates to end violence against women and girls around the world.
"Violence against women and girls is an offense to all of us, affecting the development of our society as a whole," said Charles Sandefur, president of ADRA International. "Through this campaign, we want to make it clear that violence against women and girls can not and will not be tolerated, and motivate others to do the same."
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not immune to domestic violence, with incidences of abuse following trends among non-Adventist populations.
"That is why we are choosing to launch a campaign that increases personal awareness, responsibility and involvement within our church, in order to effectively help end violence against women and girls in every family and community," said Heather-Dawn Small, director of Women's Ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
This campaign is the most significant stand the Seventh-day Adventist Church has ever taken regarding the issue of violence against women and girls. More than 15 million Adventist church members are expected to create a global movement that will be mobilized within their own communities, where each person will actively work to create awareness and share solutions on ways to end this global problem.
During enditnow's initial phase, 1 million signatures will be collected from individuals in more than 200 countries in support of ending violence against women and girls. The signatures will be presented to the United Nations to draw attention to the issue, advocate for the creation of new policies that protect women and girls, and make public the Seventh-day Adventist Church's efforts to end violent practices against the female gender.
"Although enditnow focuses on violence against women and girls, abuse of any kind should never occur, whether against a man or a woman," added Sandefur.
The campaign aims to highlight abuse against women because the majority of victims of gender-based violence are indisputably women.
While this initiative seeks to primarily mobilize Adventist church members, all individuals, church congregations of every faith, social groups, schools, and businesses are invited to join.
Resources and information about the campaign are available at www.enditnow.org.
According to the World Health Organization, violence against women and girls is widespread and comes in a variety of forms, most notably through sex trafficking, domestic abuse, sexual assault, honor killings, female genital mutilation, child marriage, emotional and verbal abuse, and other forms of violence.
Follow ADRA on Twitter and get the latest information on the campaign.
ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.
For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Women run to safety during a tsunami drill in Banda Aceh October 14, 2009. Sirens wailed and mosque loudspeakers ordered residents of the capital of Aceh province to seek safety as ...
