November 2011 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence

The Global Women's Studies Programme at NUI Galway will host a series of public lectures a part of the international 16 Days campaign against Gender Violence. NUI Galway joins over 3,700 organisations, in over 164 different countries, to pay recognition to the ongoing problem of violence against women.

This year, the 16 Days campaign runs from 25 November to 10 December. The campaign provides an opportunity to reflect on violence against women as one of the most pervasive human rights abuses worldwide, and to consider the particular challenges faced in ensuring women's rights in Ireland and abroad. This year's programme links the national to the international with presentations on domestic violence and the recession, the experiences of Refugee and Asylum seeking women in Ireland, the establishment of the Galway Sexual Assault Treatment Unit and the experiences of Iranian women's rights activists.

On Tuesday, 29 November, Sheelan Yousefidezah, Women's Right's Activists at Trinity Community Initiative Fund and Secretary of Amnesty Iran group at Amnesty International Ireland, will host a lecture entitled ‘Keeping Iran's Heart Beating - documenting the experiences of Iranian Women's Rights Activists’. The lecture will take place at 12pm in MY129, Áras Moyola.

Niamh Bonner, Galway Sexual Assault Treatment Unit, will deliver a lecture on ‘Sexual Assault Treatment Services in Ireland’ on Thursday, 1 December, in MY123 - Seminar Room 1, Áras Moyola at 1pm. This seminar is supported by the NUI Galway Feminist Society.

State Violence Against Refugee and Asylum Seeking Women and Community Responses in a local Irish context will be the focus for the third lecture. Delivered by participants from the Galway Refugee Support Group, the lecture will take place on Thursday, 8 December, in CA101 - Lecture Hall 2, Cairnes Building, from 1-2pm. This seminar is also supported by the NUI Galway Feminist Society.

The final lecture in this series, ‘Just Another Day - Responding to domestic violence in the Recession’ will take place on Friday, 9 December. Sharon O'Halloran, Director of SAFE Ireland, will deliver the lecture in CA101 - Lecture Hall 2, Cairnes Building, at 1pm. Following this lecture, The European Women's Studies Class will show their photographic exhibition on 'Gender and Poverty in Galway'.

All the lectures are open to the public. For more information contact Dr Stacey Scriver in NUI Galway’s School of Political Science and Sociology, at 091 494116 or stacey.scriver@nuigalway.ie.

Further information is also available at http://www.facebook.com/pages/16-Days-of-Activism-to-End-Violence-Against-Women-at-NUIG/280584008649176?v=info

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