When She Speaks, Listen – a G.B.V. Awareness Campaign

As a part of its contribution to the Sixteen Days of Activism, the U.S. Embassy launched its gender-based violence information campaign. The message is being shared through one hundred and sixty posters entitled, “When She Speaks, Listen.”  These will be placed in high-density areas. Here’s more from the launch today in Belmopan.

Keith Gilges

Keith Gilges, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires

“It is a big issue. It’s a big issue here; it is a big issue in a lot of countries. You don’t have to be reading the papers for too many days to have another story come out where somebody is a victim. You don’t have to ask too many friends before you learn that somebody had escaped a relationship that was abusive years ago. So this is not an effort to say hey Belize, you are unique; you have a problem. No, Belize is not unique at all; unfortunately this is common, but it is a serious issue and it is something that we need to shine a light on and we need to tell victims that there are resources that they can reach out to.   What we are launching today is the U.S. Embassy’s effort to contribute to the Sixteen Days of Activism by creating signs that can be placed in public areas of high traffic throughout Belize; that tell people that there are resources; that tell victims of violence that there are people that they can call if they find themselves in that situation.  We worked on putting that together, worked with various governmental organizations to have them placed in certain areas throughout Belize, like ports of entry; and particularly, we are focusing on putting them in restaurants…on the wall because sometimes that’s the only place that somebody that’s a victim of violence gets a moment free from the person who is beating them. That’s when they have a moment to be able to say I am safe here, I can make a phone call, I can write down; I can get this information. So that’s the audience we are trying to go for.”