16 Days: Safe Europe iii - Day 9

The first full day of the seminar has been fantastic we have all learned many things. 

We started out by exploring advocacy and what does it mean – it was interesting to learn all about the 8 steps to advocacy in the WAGGGS Advocacy toolkit and how we can develop a successful advocacy plan. 

After our tea break we were invited to walk round the “Silent Exhibition”. Each member of the delegation brought various materials from their country in relation to Violence against Women and Girls. The exhibition provoked many feelings but what our Blue patrol took away from it was how violence against women and girls is a global crisis and must be stopped. 

We had a great opportunity to participate in a panel discussion on the roots of violence and about some statistics that affect women in various parts of the world. We were joined by Pierrette Pape (European Women's Lobby), Mr. Wietze Sijtsma (UN Women) and Christine Barter (NSPCC and the University of Bristol). It was fantastic to hear from all of them and they delivered some really inspiring presentations.  

Before dinner we took part in various interactive activities surrounding human rights that really got us thinking about what human rights are.  

We will be ending tonight with an International Evening and we are all really excited to learn about each other’s' cultures.