The White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) 2006 will take place on 25 November 2006 to raise awareness of the growing prevalence and cruelty inflicted on family members through acts of violence and in particular against women and children.

25 November 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE 4th WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN, SINGAPORE

1. EVENT

The White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) 2006 will take place on 25 November 2006 to raise awareness of the growing prevalence and cruelty inflicted on family members through acts of violence and in particular against women and children. The organisers of this year’s WRC are the Male Chapter of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE). The event is co-funded by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Singapore Totalisator Board, Singapore Turf Club and Cathay Organisation.

25 November 2006 is also the International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

On 25 November 2006, WRC will be staging a public show at Orchard Cineleisure from 2 pm to 6 pm. This year, our theme is “Real Men Don’t Hurt!” and we hope to convey the message that men can break free from the stereotype that masculinity is defined by the use of violence (especially violence against women and children) or that violence is justifiable as a mark of masculinity or machismo.

The Guest-of-Honour is Mr Zainudin Nordin, Mayor, Central Singapore CDC. Our celebrity MC will be Mediacorp artiste Nick Shen. The highlight of the event will the launch of our online pledge where men, women and children can pledge “never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence towards women and children”. There will also be drama performances by the Sisyphian Circle; original song by Mr Richard Philips; choral singing by Singapore Men's Choir and a live band performance from Smackit.

The WRC marks the culmination of a year’s work that AWARE does in order to address family violence. Such work includes research on the issue, the operation of a legal clinic for victims who need legal assistance, the provision of counselling and social network support, among others. We are proud that we have managed to secure the support and partnership and sponsorship of many esteemed organisations, corporate bodies, and schools including SINDA, SBS Transit, The Body Shop, Singapore Press Holdings, Siemens Pte Ltd, Raffles Institution and ITE Dover. The Young Women Muslim Association made and distributed 10,000 white ribbons to 15 mosques. A full list of our partners are available on our website at http://whiteribbon.aware.org.sg

2. WHAT IS THE WRC?

The WRC seeks to encourage all persons never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence towards women and children.

Most voices against family violence tend to come from women. The WRC is unique in that the campaign is led by and involves men who believe that violence against women and children is wrong. Because it is a campaign by men, it gives us greater leverage to speak to other men in order to raise awareness about the problems of violence in the home.

By joining the efforts of both men and women, we hope to demonstrate that it is possible to live lives without violence.

3. WHY THE WRC?

While violence against men is a problem, the majority of victims of abuse are women. Approximately 80 to 90% of the applications for Personal Protection Orders are by women. In about 1 out of 3 cases, children are involved.

The statistics are stunning. Each year, about 2500 applications for personal protection orders are taken out by individuals who face psychological and physical abuse at home. This means that about 7 women every day consider themselves to be victims of family violence.

The true extent of family violence is probably larger. For every protection order taken out, many more victims remain silent. In a recent survey published in the Singapore Medical Journal, 1 in 2 women did not know where to seek help.

The good news is that this is already a big improvement. 10 years ago, only 1 in 5 women knew where to seek help. The improvement is in part due to the ceaseless effort of AWARE and other similar organisations in Singapore to raise awareness of the problem in Singapore and to reach out to both men and women.

3. HISTORY OF WRC IN SINGAPORE

The first White Ribbon Campaign was organised in 2003 by The Working Committee2 (TWC2) whose focus then was on violence against foreign domestic workers. Sixty thousand ribbons were made by our men in prison for distribution in the streets and at outlets.

In 2004, AWARE took over the challenge of the WRC, with the focus on Sexual Violence. More than 20 schools, corporations such as SembCorp Environmental Management Private Limited and grassroots organisations such as Sembawang Women’s CC were part of the effort in making 120,000 ribbons and distributing them. An exhibition was held at Far East Square on the day itself. An ad campaign drive also saw posters at bus stop shelters and Zo cards being distributed. Partnering Harley Davidson Group, the committee also went up to Malaysia to give support to their effort and learn from their efforts.

In 2005, the campaign was led by the Male Chapter of AWARE with the focus on Silent Witnesses in the family.  It was apt that the event was held in the heartlands at the Toa Payoh Bus Interchange. A mini exhibition was also put up by Holy Innocents' High School, and students from Serangoon Garden Secondary School, WRC 2005 School Ambassador went into full swing. SBS Transit drivers made personal pledges while Guest-Of-Honour Mr Zainudin Nordin gave support to this effort.

4. WRC WORLDWIDE

The White Ribbon Campaign started in Canada 15 years ago as a response to the increasing violence that women and children faced at home (see: www.whiteribbon.ca).

Today, the WRC has spread to some 50 nations across 6 continents.

5. INVOLVING THE MEDIA

The media is an important and critical partner in our campaign to raise awareness of the problems of family violence. Recently, The Straits Times published a full-length feature of family violence on 22 July 2006. This attracted some 40 responses within a week. Magazines such as Women’s Weekly also regularly feature stories of victims of domestic violence. Such publicity is both encouraging and necessary. We need more media attention on this topic in order to generate public debate and awareness about the issue.

The WRC in Singapore has also been the subject of media coverage in the major daily newspapers since it began in 2003 and we hope that you will consider publishing an article that spotlights the campaign in 2006.