Peruvian women say no to violence against women.
| Autor | Jana, Elsa Chanduvi |
On Feb. 14, St. Valentine's Day, thousands of Peruvians, including many couples, celebrated the day of love and friendship by participating in a dance in 20 districts of the capital Lima and in numerous other cities to say "enough is enough" to violence against women.
Peru thus joined the international One Billion Rising campaign to stop feminicide, which the Ministerio Publico says claimed 97 victims in 2012, 93.8% of whom were killed by their partner, expartner, or a relative (intimate femicide), while 6.2% were killed by an acquaintance or by a stranger (non-intimate femicide).
A report from the Observatorio de Criminalidad of the Ministerio Publico says that 66% of femicide victims were between the ages of 18 and 34; 17.5% were between 35 and 44; and 6.2% were between 45 and 54. Nationally, Lima is the department with the largest number of victims (24), followed by Junin (9), Tacna (6), and Lambayeque (5).
"Sixty percent of femicide victims lost their lives in their homes, ostensibly considered the safest place," said Juan Huambachano Carbajal, head of the Observatorio de Criminalidad.
"We are occupying public spaces and expressing ourselves through dance to reject and demand the eradication of violence against women of all ages throughout the world," said actress Monica Sanchez, one of the principal figures in the campaign to stop feminicide.
The One Billion Rising campaign, which took a year to organize and develop, brought together participating artists, writers, activists, social collectives, nonprofit organizations, politicians, and civil society groups around the world.
In Lima, one of the gathering places was the Alameda de la Integracion at the exit of the Estadio Nacional in central Lima, which was inaugurated that day by Lima Mayor Susana Villaran at an outdoor event. The site has booths selling typical Limeno food and flowers. During the ceremony, Villaran called for an end to violence against women.
In late January, at the kickoff of her campaign to improve public spaces, Villaran, her index finger raised, said, "I am rising so that no girl or woman will continue to suffer violence in silence, and as mayor of Lima I am improving public spaces so that they have a place to congregate and speak and not be ashamed and where they can be protected."
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