Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali has teamed up with Egyptian musician Khaled Dagher and Egyptian filmmaker Tamer Eissa to support UN Women's “Silence is Not Acceptance” campaign.
Benali's song "Kan Ya Ma Kan" was released on Wednesday to kick off the initiative, which is a regional awareness campaign addressing the culture of silence and social stigma attached to violence against women and girls.
“Silence is Not Acceptance” is part of UN Women's worldwide campaign "UNiTE to End Violence against Women" and its "16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence" initiative for this year.
The global initiative, which was launched on Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and will end on Dec. 10, the International Human Rights Day, aims to raise public awareness and mobilize people to bring about change regarding gender-based violence.
In accordance with that aim, UN Women’s Regional Office for Arab States (UN Women Arabic) launched the regional campaign to encourage people to visibly show support for the cause in their communities in order to break the silence that surrounds it.
The campaign encourages people either to directly show support to survivors of gender-based violence or to organize an "orange" event to raise awareness, as orange is the color designated by the UNiTE campaign to symbolize a brighter future for the world, one that is free of violence against women and girls.
There are several "orange" events using creativity to highlight the cause planned across the Middle East and Arab World throughout the 16 days, these include an artistic performance in Egypt's Aswan, a poetry and theater festival in Jordan and a theater performance in Morocco.
In addition, the Temple of Abu Simbel in Egypt, Petra in Jordan and the National Museum of Arts in Morocco were lit up in orange last Wednesday as part of "Orange the World," which saw landmarks around the world mark the start of the campaign.
Other Arab advocates for this year's campaign include Egyptian screenwriter Mariam Naoum and Syrian actress Kinda Alloush, who discussed in another campaign video also directed by Eissa, the struggles endured by Syrian women refugees and the importance of providing them with support in their host societies.