Reclaiming the night: Activists to hold march against gender-based violence

Updated after event postponed

Several NGOs will be organising an evening march across the St Julian’s seafront to raise awareness on gender-based violence.

The march will take place at 6:30pm on 2 December, a week after the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, helping to raise awareness on women’s experiences with physical, sexual and psycholohical violence.

This is the first such march to be held in Malta. It will start at the LOVE Monument in St Julian’s and end in Ġnien Indipendenza, where Polish student Paulina Dembska was murdered in a femicidal homicide last January.

As part of the event, activists will share stories about the personal experiences of women and the violence they face on a daily basis.

Gender-based violence includes street harassment, cyber harassment, psychological abuse, unwanted sexual advances, rape, femicide, human trafficking, child marriage and female genital mutilation.

The public is invited to submit their own stories and participate in this storytelling session. People can read out their own stories during the march or can submit their stories anonymously in an online form.

The participating NGOs are MGRM, Young Progressive Beings, Moviment Graffitti, Women’s Rights Foundation, Integra, Migrant Women Association Malta, Women for Women, Dar Merħba Bik, Malta Association of Women in Business, aditus, Fondazzjoni St Jeanne Antide, FIDEM Charity Foundation, Fondazzjoni Sebħ, Doctors for Choice Malta, YMCA Malta, Interrupting Violence towards Youth, Malta Women’s Lobby, Allied Rainbow Communities – ARC, Malta Girl Guides, Żminijietna – Voice of the Left, emPOWer, Men Against Violence, and Dance Beyond Borders.