Community-Led Activities Bring Together Youth, Women, LGBTQIA+, Migrants and Minority Voices
New Delhi: CEQUIN has partnered with 40 community organizations in Delhi to launch the global “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” campaign, reinforcing its commitment to creating safe and inclusive cities.
This initiative includes organizations representing youth, women, men, LGBTQIA+ communities, persons with disabilities, minorities, and migrant groups, amplifying the global call to end violence against women within the Delhi context.
This annual international campaign runs from November 25 to December 10 worldwide. This year, the United Nations theme focuses on Technology-Based Gender Violence (TGBV), highlighting emerging forms such as cyberstalking, trolling, doxxing, image-based abuse, and digital surveillance. In densely populated and socially complex cities like Delhi, these digital threats create new safety challenges for women and girls, compounding existing physical, social, and economic risks.
Growing indicators of insecurity for women highlight the urgent need to make cities safer and more inclusive, both physically and digitally. According to the NCRB Crime in India 2023 Report, Delhi recorded 13,366 crimes against women, the highest among all major cities in India. These included 1,088 rapes, 4,219 cases of cruelty by husbands, 3,952 kidnappings, and six acid attacks. In 2024, the sex ratio at birth in Delhi dropped to 920 girls per 1,000 boys. Female participation in the workforce was only 14.8% in 2022–23, and in the tech and service sectors, only one in four professionals is a woman. Wage inequality remains persistent. These figures clearly indicate that building safe and gender-sensitive cities is not just a policy priority but an urgent necessity.
During the program, CEQUIN’s co-founder and chairperson, Sara Abdullah Pilot, said,“This campaign strengthens our collective commitment to ensuring violence-free lives for women and girls. It is alarming that one in three women has experienced violence from a partner or family member. Online violence, such as cyberbullying, trolling, and underreported complaints also impacts women’s safety. This fear is felt at home, at workplaces, in public spaces, and on digital platforms. The 40 organizations participating in this campaign send a clear message that ending violence against women and girls requires concrete, coordinated, and collective action.”
CEQUIN co-founder and executive director, Laura K. Prabhu, said, “Digital technology has completely transformed the nature, impact, and reach of gender-based violence. The direction in which AI and digital algorithms are shaping human behavior is still under research, which is why we are seeing a clear rise in TGBV cases. If these issues are not understood through a gender lens, discrimination against women, girls, and gender-diverse communities could intensify. Addressing this complex challenge requires sensitive, technical, and collective efforts.”
On this occasion, CEQUIN hosted a full day of diverse public activities at PVR Anupam Market Complex, including flash mobs, group singing, street plays, dialogue sessions, interactive games, exhibitions, and community-based activities. The event concluded with songs and a candle march for solidarity. Since 2023, CEQUIN and partner groups have used this public space as a shared leadership platform, amplifying the voices of Dalit, Muslim, queer, trans, disabled, and other marginalized communities.
