The Zonta Club of Alessandria, Italy, in District 30, is advocating to end gender-based violence with a theater performance.

The club took the show, “E’l modo ancora m’offende” (“It’s still offensive to me”) to the two cities in the Alessandria province from 30 November to 2 December.

Judge Giuliano Turone wrote the show, performed by the theater company La diritta via. The club is hoping to use the performance to help citizens recognize violence, face it and eliminate it.

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The Zonta Club of Mackay Inc., Australia, in District 22, is advocating to end violence against women through a display on five local digital billboards.

RP Digital supports local nonprofit organizations by providing free electronic billboard messages across the Mackay region. For no cost to the club, the company is displaying the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women message throughout the 16 Days of Activism, and will also display it once a month over the coming year.

More than 50,000 cars drive by the billboards daily, ensuring that many Mackay residents will see the message and be made aware of the issue of gender-based violence.

Cyber violence against women and girls is a global problem with serious implications for societies and economies around the world.

About 29 orange pinwheels are planted on the Boone County Courthouse lawn. Each represents a person who has died as a result of domestic violence in Indiana since 2014, explained Joanna Shoemaker with the Zonta Club of Lebanon, USA, District 6.

Shoemaker said this display is part of the larger 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign that is being celebrated by Zonta clubs internationally. The 16-day period started Nov. 25 and will end on Dec. 10.

The campaign is aimed to get the average person to realize how many people domestic violence touches. By showing the deaths involved, people can see the most extreme outcome.

“It is jarring to see it, and you realize that this is happening right here in your community,” said Christine Sterle, the club’s vice president.

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The Zonta Club of Berry Inc, Australia, in District 24, has established a window display in Berry Chemist and the Shoalhaven Library, with information available on how to access local domestic violence services.

Zonta Club of Berry Inc President Rosalie Fletcher said Zonta is passionate about eliminating domestic violence.

“Domestic violence is one of the major messages we want to get out,” she told South Coast Register. “We’re all about women empowering women.”

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The Zonta Club of Ulm-Donau, in District 30, is bringing awareness to the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign in Ulm, Germany.

Club members have erected a sign at Theater Ulm, and turned the building orange as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.

Zonta Club of Lohja, Finland, in District 20 chose partnered with young people in the town for the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign.

The club turned the local youth center orange to raise awareness about violence against women and girls. The building, where young people gather daily both for spare time and for municipal youth services, is illuminated orange during the 16 Days of Activism.

The orange color outside the building is communicating the important message of the campaign, strengthened by the local media. In addition, young people who use the center’s services are getting information about the topics close to the youth during the days of activism, such as violence in relationships and harrasment on social media, at school or at work.

Information about everyone’s right to education, not only in Finland but worldwide, was spread, as well as facts about human trafficking in the world.

Conflict affects women and girls and men and boys differently. The violence experienced by women and girls in conflict situations is not always seen and is highly underreported.

“In 2016, sexual violence continued to be employed as a tactic of war, with widespread and strategic rapes, including mass rapes, allegedly committed by several parties to armed conflict, mostly in conjunction with other crimes such as killing, looting, pillage, forced displacement and arbitrary detention,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says in a recent report.

Click here to read Guterres’ April 2017 report on conflict-related sexual violence.

Traffickers and their victims often come from the same place, speak the same language or have the same ethnic background. Such commonalities help traffickers generate trust to carry out the trafficking crime. Court cases and other qualitative data indicate that women are often used to recruit other women.

Click here to find more information on trafficking in persons in the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).