16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence: the Feminist Municipal Movement leads the way towards Caring Cities and Territories free from all forms of violence

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16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence: the Feminist Municipal Movement leads the way towards Caring Cities and Territories free from all forms of violence

From 25 November -International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women- to 10 December 2025 -Human Rights Day-, the international community mobilizes online and strengthens the global advocacy efforts towards ending all forms of violence against women and girls worldwide. In this context and as part of the 16 Days of Activism campaign, the UN systems and its agencies, in particular UN Women, convened the #UNiTE campaign, calling on governments from all levels, civil society, the private sector, media, and the proper UN system to join forces to address the global pandemic of gender-based violence.

As the closest sphere of governance, and building on their pioneering and confirmed leadership on local policy-making and public service provision towards enhancing equality and care in their cities and territories, local and regional governments (LRGs) play a crucial role in addressing discrimination and inequalities in areas such as housing, public safety, education, healthcare, and labour rights. The global Feminist Municipal Movement led by UCLG capitalizes on these opportunities by embedding feminist principles into urban planning, local governance, and public policy. Across the globe, LRGs are championing actions that tackle gender-based discrimination, harassment, and all types of violence. Therefore, as part of the Beijing+30 process and in the wake of the upcoming United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW70), UCLG joined the movement and actively contributed to the global advocacy efforts through promoting the intensive work of the World Organization toward more equality in territories.

From concrete insights on the research agenda of UCLG with the 7th Global Observatory on Local Democracy (GOLD) process on Economies of Equality and Care, led by UCLG through the Multimedia Journal, to the broadcasting of powerful women and pioneering feminist leaders from all continents ‘Voices of Change: Local Feminist Leadership, rooting transformative governance for equality and care’, UCLG’s campaign showcases the power of the local by giving light to a number of initiatives impulsed by the Municipal Movement towards empowering women’s leadership and enhancing their participation to politics and decision-making, including the mobilization and solid contribution to the WYDE Women’s Leadership programme impulsed by UN Women and cofunded by the European Union, the longstanding work of the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights (UCLG-CSIPDHR), the stretch collaboration with the International Observatory on Violences Against Women of its co-presidency of the Departmental Council of the Seine-Saint-Denis (OIVF), or some thematic contributions made by the regional parts of the network.

As a culmination of the campaign, more than 80 locally elected officials, women leaders and their networks, as well as partners and key stakeholders from international institutions and organizations gathered online on 26 November 2025 for the global dialogue 'Local and Territorial Voices of Power: Women’s Leadership to End Violence Against Women'. The meeting was held as part of and in the framework of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November) and the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, and it reaffirmed the critical role of LRGs in leading action and transformative responses to gender-based violence.

Organized in close cooperation with the UCLG-CSIPDHR, the session was convened by UCLG and the OIVF, as a contribution to UCLG’s activities within the WYDE Women’s Leadership initiative. The session aimed at reinforcing the global reach of the Feminist Municipal Movement, as a renewed commitment from the LRG constituency to further work with the international community, including the UN system and its agencies so that women leaders in LRGs are visible, connected, and equipped to drive feminist governance worldwide.

The event marked one year since the closing seminar of the international programme Towards Caring Territories for Women Victims of Violence, led by the CSIPDHR and the Departmental Council of the Seine-Saint-Denis. Taking stock not only of the progress made since then, but also of the backlashes and challenges that remain ahead, the meeting contributed to identifying the priorities of the Feminist Municipal Movement ahead of key global milestones in 2026. As the UCLG Congress and World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders will unfold in Tangier next June 2026, those priorities will directly nurture the work on the Local Social Covenant, at the center of the municipal agenda in 2026.

As part of the global community’s efforts to strengthen the efforts and alliances towards eliminating all forms of gender-based violence, UCLG facilitated a thematic roundtable on ‘Ending Violence Against Women in Politics: Ensuring Safe Online Spaces’ convened by the Inter-Parlamentary Union (IPU) and coorganized by UN Women, UCLG and International IDEA as part of the WYDE Women’s Leadership initiative. The session gathered elected officials and representatives from all levels of governments: from national PMs to local women leaders, including Tours and Cités Unies France. It provided space to tackle this year's thematic priority and one of the fastest-growing forms of abuse: digital violence against women and girls, including online abuse and harassment against female political leaders. The session allowed to share life-experiences and discuss possible and proven concrete strategies to counterstrike the strong backlash women political leaders are facing worldwide.

Finally, as co-Chair of the Feminist Movements and Leadership Action Coalition of the Generation Equality Forum, the Feminist Municipal Movement endorsed the solidarity statement ‘Standing Strong and Together for the World’s Women, Girls, Human Rights Defenders and Champions of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’ as a commitment to promote alliances and unity towards strengthening our movement for collective action and boldly defending human rights, international cooperation, civic space, gender equality and feminist action towards caring societies that put the wellbeing of all communities and people at the center of its development, including women and girls.

The campaign will continue developing until 10 December 2026, which will mark the International Human Rights Day, a key milestone for the Equality agenda as well as the global political agenda of the World Organisation.

Stay tuned to know more and #Listen2Cities! #ACTtoEndViolence.

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16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence: the Feminist Municipal Movement leads the way towards Caring Cities and Territories free from all forms of violence