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The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign that starts on 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day. The campaign hopes to raise awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international level.

This year’s theme is “Let’s challenge militarism and end violence against women.”

Militarism remains a key source of violence for women. As an ideology that creates a culture of fear, militarism supports the use of violence, aggression, and military interventions for settling disputes and enforcing economic and political interests.

The impacts of militarism run deep, with material, institutional, cultural, and psychological impacts on all of our communities. It privileges violent forms of masculinity, and presumes that violence is an effective way to solve problems.

Militarism often has grave consequences for the safety and security of our society as a whole, including women, children, and men. From sexual violence in conflict to the proliferation of toy guns for children, militarism influences how we view women and men, our families, neighbors, public life, and specific countries.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign is held for the seventh year in Armenia by the Women's Resource Center Armenia. A march with participation of activists and members of NGOs took place in Yerevan on Sunday marking the launch of the campaign.

Armenia still lacks a law on domestic violence. A draft law on domestic violence was developed long ago and will soon be submitted to government.