On International Men’s Day, November 19, a pilot Male Anonymous Consulting Service (MACS) launches in Belarus. MACS’s objective is to provide psychological support to men in Belarus assisting them in dealing with their difficulties in family relationships, with friends and loved ones, as well as to help them through challenging emotional situations.
The International Public Association “Gender Perspectives” is informing the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Belarus of its decision to suspend the institutional cooperation and joint activities in the area of domestic violence prevention for an indefinite time period.
The International Public Association “Gender Perspectives” is celebrating this week two very important anniversaries in our history - 10 years since our organization was founded and 8 years of the national domestic violence hotline operation. We would like to thank everyone who has been supporting us for the past 10 years and contributed to violence-free life in Belarus.
WAVE Network report that since the outbreak of COVID-19, reports of violence against women, and particularly domestic violence, have increased dramatically in several countries. The crisis has a disproportionate impact on women that are particularly vulnerable to the negative social and economic impact of the crisis, including women of colour, migrant and refugee women, Roma women, and LGBTQ+ persons, as well as women of poor and working-class background.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launches new report spotlighting the effects of the COVID19 pandemic on women and girls. The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone, everywhere. But it affects different groups of people differently, deepening existing inequalities. Early data indicates that the mortality rates from COVID-19 may be higher for men. But the pandemic is having devastating social and economic consequences for women and girls.
The current Corona Virus (COVID-19) crisis is affecting all our countries and societies with most European States taking restrictive measures to prevent the wide spreading of COVID-19 and mitigate the health risks for the population. While this affects everybody, the new situation has a particularly negative impact on marginalized communities, including thousands of migrants that work in Europe in low paid and exploitative jobs, supporting European countries to plug their labour shortfalls.
Gender issues first came to prominence when looking for ways to protect women’s rights and ensure legal and de-facto equality between women and men. Modern Belarusian society dictates that both women and men should adhere to rigid gender roles and their lives are limited by existing stereotypes.
The national domestic violence hotline 8-801-100-8-801 launches a new service - a chat bot for survivors of domestic violence and possible witnesses of abuse. The service is an option to receive vital information on access to mental health, legal and social services.
On November 25, 2019 the Office of the International Public Association “Gender Perspectives”, which is home to the national domestic violence hotline 8-801-100-8-801, hosted the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Ms. Ann Linde.
From young gender equality advocates to high-ranking government officials, key stakeholders from North America, Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia called for the urgent realization of women’s and girl’s human rights and for turning the commitments to gender equality into reality.