Thursday in Black Campaign to End GBV

Together we must change this statistic that states, “One in four Jamaican women has been the victim of gender-based violence.” Let’s change it to zero cases of gender-based violence in Jamaica. Join us and participate in the Thursday in Black Campaign to End GBV. The Institute for Gender & Development Studies - Regional Coordinating Office (IGDS - RCO) in response to recent incidents of femicide and other acts of gender-based violence directed at women and girls across Jamaica has joined forces with the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) to stage an island-wide one-day campaign against violence against women and girls (VAWG). The primary objective of this campaign is to educate, inform and get the people of the island to understand that we must work together to end gender-based violence and urge our government, which has signed on to the United Nations Sustainable Goals Agenda 2030 to amend all laws governing violence against women and girls, and family violence, before the end of 2021. Together we can peacefully make our society safe for women and girls, and for all.

The May 13, 2021 Thursday in Black Campaign to End GBV with Headlights, occurs within the week in which the United Nations honours peace and the family, International Day of Families, (Saturday, May 15); and International Day of Living Together in Peace, (Sunday, May 16).

1. On May 13, from 9 a.m. to midday, for the Thursday in Black Campaign to end GBV, we urge
everyone who opposes VAWG to peacefully stand vigilant in front of Parish Council offices,
courthouses and churches in all 14 parishes, bearing placards. Given the COVID-19
restrictions on public gatherings, organised groups of 10 individuals will stand in silence on
a rotational basis at the various locations.

2. We are asking all motorists —public and private— to turn on their headlights to let
perpetrators of GBV know that their actions will no longer be tolerated.

3. We also encourage every citizen of Jamaica on Thursday, May 13, to wear black as a mark
of solidarity with anyone who has been a victim of gender-based violence.

4. The president of the JCC, Reverend Newton Dixon, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church,
will urge all JCC member churches to prepare sermons decrying GBV on Sunday, May 9, 2021.

Together we must end violence in Jamaica!
Jamaica must be safe again for Women and Girls!