Youth Power organized the street action “Route against gender based violence” on the occasion of 16 days of activism, where more than 60 youngsters gathered together to raise their voices against violence. The action was held on December 9 with the aim of raising citizens’ awareness of the importance of this global campaign.
Young people gathered in front of Stara Gimnazija Mostar and started the route via Musala and Fejićeva Street all the way to Stari Most. Carrying banners with the inscriptions “It’s not her fault”, “A bully has all his weapons”, “You can always change something” and “No means no”, they tried to raise awareness about the prevention of violence against women and all forms of violence.
“This activity is part of the continuous activities we do with youngsters from primary and secondary schools and colleges and it’s an example of an activist story where young people send messages against violence and generally send messages about the importance of reacting to all cases of violence when we see it,” – program manager of the NGO “Youth power” Nedim Mičijević pointed out.
Mičijević stated that statistics show that between 40 and 50 percent of youngsters have committed some form of violence against girls or women.
“These are the concrete results of the research that we are conducting in our work with eight partner high schools in Mostar and in HNK”, Mičijević added.
With this street action, youngsters sent a message to the citizens of Mostar that we are all responsible, as individuals and as a society, when it comes to violence. When we see violence, we need to react.
The activity was implemented within the project Young Men Initiative III (YMI): “Promoting Healthier Lifestyles and Decrease of Interpersonal Violence among Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Challenging Gender Stereotypes III“, supported by the Swiss Government, Oak Foundation, Austrian Development Agency and CARE International Bosnia and Herzegovina.
