US Embassy launches activism against gender based violence

The ceremony included a candlelight vigil, as well as lighting the Embassy in orange to commemorate the start of the campaign.

The Embassy commemorated those who have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of perpetrators of this brutality and honored those victims who have been tragically lost to this violence. Several survivors and victims’ family members spoke at the event.

President Obama and Secretary Kerry have made gender equality, girls empowerment, and ending gender based violence cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. Gender equality and empowerment are crucial to building resilient, democratic societies, supporting open and accountable governance, ending extreme poverty and fostering vibrant economies and communities. Gender equality cannot happen without an end to gender based violence.

Last year alone, the Department of State and USAID invested $140 million in gender based violence programs worldwide.

In Belize, the Embassy’s CARSI program funded s $100,000 grant to Belize Family Life Association to reduce the risk of gender based violence among youth in Belize, Orange Walk, and Stann Creek.

The ceremony marked the Embassy’s participation of the Special Envoy Belize for Women and Children and the Women’s Department’s “Unmasking the Many Faces of Gender Based Violence” campaign in partnership with the UN’s UNITE campaign to end GBV.