RET International Observes ‘Orange the World’

Malenie Barnes

Twenty-fifth of every month is being used to highlight and raise awareness of gender-based violence. The campaign to “orange” the world was started by the United Nations to end violence against women and girls.  The “color orange” is used to call attention to the various forms of violence that prevent women and girls from reaching their full potential has spread to Belize. RET International joined in on the movement and today Country Director Malenie Barnes called on Belizeans to step up and do more for women and girls.

Malenie Barnes, Country Director, RET International

“RET has been, over the last year, working to help raise awareness about gender-based violence, specifically looking at how the mechanisms and processes respond and what are gaps in these mechanisms and how we can strengthen them. Our focus has always been at both ends of the spectrum, looking at the community – what are the barriers to women and youth accessing services with their response to violence. As well as on the government side what are the challenges and how civil society can help to bridge the gap between government and the community. So, we have been embarking on a lot of training, awareness , government building and we wanted today, on the twenty-fifth of the day, to raise awareness that speak publicly about the issues of gender-based violence that has been affecting the country. Particularly, looking at the issue of femicide – recently another woman was found murdered. We want to encourage people and the community to do more in terms of raising awareness and to stop normalizing violence against women and children.”