Translations for the White Ribbon Respectful Relationships Campaign

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The White Ribbon Campaign wants all communities to move towards non-violence .

To assist as many New Zealanders as possible to take on-board the White Ribbon anti-violence messages., the campaign has developed translations for the ‘Respectful Relationships’ campaign. There are three posters in each set focusing on 1) Gender Power Relationships, 2) Male behaviour during conflict 3) sexual violence and the issue of consent. You may download, use and reprint these files. Please let us know if you find them useful at contact@whiteribbon.org.nz

I feel privileged to have worked on the White Ribbon Campaign when I joined the Families Commission several years ago. Whilst there, part of my involvement in the Campaign was to liaise with ethnic communities throughout the North Island.

White Ribbon Ambassador Saty Candasamy

The need for posters in other languages was clear and the production of these posters is now an integral part of White Ribbon.

Reaching all sections and communities in New Zealand in order to ensure that, we as a nation, address the issue of violence towards women is vital for our future well being.

Saty Candasamy
White Ribbon Ambassador

DOWNLOAD THE PDFs HERE:

• Afrikaans Posters
• Chinese Posters
• English
• Fijian Posters
• Hindi Posters
• Japanese Posters
• Korean Posters
• Maori Posters
• Samoan Posters
• Tongan Posters

Use these jpgs on Facebook and websites. Click on the image to download. For printing use the PDFs.

The White Ribbon Campaign responds to comments made by the Prime Minister

Recent comments by Prime Minister John Key, a White Ribbon Ambassador, accusing other members of parliament of supporting rapists has understandably caused great offence to many people, men and women alike.

The comments do not reflect the Kaupapa of White Ribbon and do not support our efforts to engage with men (which includes working and speaking to perpetrators and former perpetrators) across New Zealand. These are men that must be encouraged to change their attitudes and behaviour and the work of those who deal with these men should not be disparaged. Nor should the former perpetrators who now dedicate their lives to ensuring their appalling choices are not repeated by other men.

The central tenet of the White Ribbon campaign is that we must ‘never commit condone or remain silent about violence towards women’. Our supporters have sent the White Ribbon trustees a clear message that they expect us to honour this pledge. We have heard that call and we agree, so we will be contacting the Prime Minister’s office outlining our concerns.

We also note that White Ribbon has been and must remain apolitical.  We have a single focus – that is, highlighting the issue of men’s violence towards women in this country; calling for an end to this terrible blight on our society; and asking all men (and women) to join together to take responsibility for the issue, personally and collectively, in order to create a society in New Zealand where this form of violence is eliminated.

The White Ribbon Trust asks all our supporters to keep this important goal in mind.

The sad irony is that this matter has erupted in November, the very month where we are all focusing on the issue of violence in our country. Equally ironic is that our campaign theme for 2015 is based on respectful relationships. It is a powerful and relevant theme and White Ribbon supporters around the country have been working hard to achieve what we hope will be our most successful campaign ever. Comments made by others – even the Prime Minister – should not, and must not distract us from our collective goal and passion.

White Ribbon Trustees, on behalf of all our supporters, will be raising our concerns. We will also be discussing our expectations of White Ribbon Ambassadors – all of whom have committed to White Ribbon. We will not remain silent. But we are also firmly focused on how we can best work with our dedicated and passionate volunteer supporters to achieve our goals – the long- term goal of eliminating violence towards women, and our immediate goal of delivering a powerful campaign this November to once again bring this issue into focus for all New Zealanders.

We understand and support those who feel that accusing others of supporting those who have exhibited violent behaviour is unacceptable. It is a serious matter, regardless of where these comments are made. We also understand those who have called for action on this issue. We believe the best action is to continue what we have all committed to doing – take collective actions as individuals and communities to highlight the issue of men’s violence against women – in fact all forms of violence in our communities. Together, we have come a long way on this journey. Together, let us re-commit to continuing to strengthen the gains we have made.

Ric Odom
White Ribbon Trust Chair

Update: 9/12/15
Prime Minister John Key has apologised for accusing the Opposition of “backing the rapists” after refusing to do so for a month.

Key kicked off Question Time on Wednesday by saying he had reflected on his comments and “on the last sitting day of the year so close to Christmas I’d like to withdraw and apologise”.

MPs from both the Greens and the Labour Party applauded Key for his apology

Last month Key sparked walkouts two days in a row after saying Labour was “backing the rapists”, as well as murderers and child molesters, among Kiwi detainees at the Christmas Island detention centre.

Following the comments most Labour MPs left the debating chamber and the next day when Key refused again to apologise at least 12 female MPs either walked out or were asked to leave after standing one by one in defiance of Speaker David Carter.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/74923038/john-key-and-andrew-little-strike-a-deal-in-the-spirit-of-christmas

East Meets West

East Meets West – Wellington

White Ribbon was privileged to be invited to participate at a major Diwali event in Wellington (East Meets West) and  launch the campaign in front of 400 members of the ethnic community. The entire audience and special guests all took The Pledge ‘to never commit condone or remain silent about violence towards women’ with her Worship Celia Wade Brown, Mayor of Wellington and Her Excellency Dato’ Lim Kim Eng, High Commissioner of Malaysia to New Zealand, Manwaljit Singh Bakshi MP and Inspector Rakesh Naidoo NZ Police.

A truly fantastic demonstration of community commitment. Special thanks to White Ribbon Ambassador Raveen Annamalai, President of Multicultural Council of Wellington for pulling this event together.

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Launch of 2015 campaign

Photo: left to right David Clendon MP, Mark Mitchell MP, Alfred Ngaro MP, Jonathan Young MP and Steffan Browning MP

White Ribbon Ambassadors Launch ‘Respectful Relationships’ Campaign

Five White Ribbon Ambassadors from Parliament stood together to launch this year’s White Ribbon Campaign by re-signing the White Ribbon Pledge to ‘never commit condone or remain silent about violence towards women’ and to talk about ‘Respectful Relationships’.

If you want to teach your children respect,” says MP and White Ribbon Ambassador Alfred Ngaro, “then teach them by role modeling and respecting their mothers. Love them and care for them, and they will learn from that.”

This year after community consultation, White Ribbon has created a bold campaign that asks men, what kind of guy do they want to be, respectful or violent?

2015 Campaign Posters

“Most men treat women with respect,” says White Ribbon Campaign Manager Rob McCann, “but the biggest cause of violence is the belief that men have more rights and power than women. This campaign asks men to challenge those ideas and treat women how they would like to be treated, and let go of the feeling that we have to be in charge.”

The campaign also focuses on ‘male behaviour during conflict’ and demonstrates that communicating is key to a good relationship. “Conflict happens,” says Mr McCann, “but dealing with it respectfully makes all the difference.”

“Respectful relationships also require consent. We’re making it crystal clear, that there has to be an enthusiastic ‘yes’ to everything, otherwise there is no consent.”

To get that point across, White Ribbon has been given permission to host the ‘cup of tea’ video which has been viewed over two million times around the world http://whiteribbon.org.nz/sexual-violence-and-the-issue-of-consent/consent/. “We’re asking men of all ages in New Zealand to watch this video explanation of consent,” says Mr McCann.

“We want to make the information on consent as accessible as possible, so we’ve also created a ‘Toolbox’ which contains practical tips on how to treat women equally, communicate respectfully and have a respectful sexual relationship. We see this work as a protection against violence and we’re asking men to download the ‘Toolbox’ and then take The White Ribbon Pledge,” says Mr McCann.

Check out the campaign at www.whiteribon.org.nz and download your Toolbox now.

KEY STATISTICS

•       One in three women will experience partner violence at some point in their lives

•       Less than 20 percent of abuse cases are reported

•       Over 3,500 convictions are recorded against men each year for assaults on women

•       On average, 14 women a year are killed by their partners or ex-partners

•       Police attend a family violence incident every 5 ½ minutes

•       Family violence accounts for half of all reported serious crime

•       In 2013 Police recorded 95,101 family violence instigations

•       In 2014 Police responded to over 100,000 family violence incidents

KEY MESSAGES

•       Say yes to respectful relationships and no to violence towards women

•       Respectful relationships require equality, communication and consent

•       Violence is not just physical

•       Men are part of the solution

•       You can help fix this problem by taking The Pledge

Rob McCann
White Ribbon Campaign Manager
Mobile  021 212 2953

LOW COST IDEAS FOR CELEBRATING AND PROMOTING THE WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN

• Start with your own organisation or workplace:
  • Hold a lunch time panel discussion
  • Put posters up in staff rooms and bathrooms these are available from your local Police station in Nov or order them online
  • Organise a morning tea or bake off or organise a collection for White Ribbon
  • Write something about preventing violence against women for your organisation’s newsletter or intranet (borrow content from White Ribbon)
  • Put ribbons on every desk and talk about White Ribbon in the staff room
  • Have a competition amongst groups within your organisation to come up with the best way of highlighting White Ribbon
• If you are part of a family violence network – talk to all the members to encourage them all to do something within their own organisation for White Ribbon
• Have a BBQ at the local shops and give out ribbons (ask local supermarkets or butchers to donate sausages)
• Ask local businesses to put up posters and wear ribbons
• Challenge local shops to mark White Ribbon Day by having a “white out” – an all white window display encompassing ribbons
• Drop ribbons and posters at your GP clinic
• Organise to give a talk at the local rugby/cricket/football/karate club about what men can do to stop violence against women
• Talk to church leaders about including violence prevention messages in their sermons and public talks during WRD (content available from White Ribbon)
• Hand out ribbons at the mall, supermarket, train and bus stations wherever people are
• Make contact with actors (amateur or professional) and see if they are interested in performing small pieces on family violence in public places on Nov 25
• Include the White Ribbon Facebook page/logo in your email signature download here
• Ask your radio station/ local paper to do a piece on violence against women and White Ribbon Day
• Write an article or letter to the editor with a local angle, eg local statistics on violence against women; local activities; stories from local women who have survived violence
• Send ribbons and a little bit of information to your friends, and ask them to be champions in their workplaces, churches and community groups (especially those working outside social and health services)
• Ring up talk-back radio and start a discussion about how men can help stop violence against women
• Get as many people as possible to be part of a human white ribbon – get the local paper along
• Ask the library, sports centre, supermarket, or local council if you can put up a White Ribbon display
• At universities, polytechs and schools:
  • Write an article for the student paper
  • Have an event in the quad or common space
  • Put posters and safety information in bathrooms
  • Ask lecturers to include a focus on violence against women or WRD
• Talk to Rotary and other service clubs before November and see how they could get involved
• Drop ribbons to your vet clinic – vets often see signs of family violence
• Organise a peaceful demonstration or memorial for women who have been killed
• Nominate a White Ribbon Ambassador nomination forms here

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2015 AUCKLAND WHITE RIBBON NOMINATION AWARDS FORM

Ambassador David White receives an award in 2014 from the Hon Dr Pita Sharples

The White Ribbon encourages men to challenge each other in attitudes and behaviour that are abusive. The 2015 White Ribbon Fundraising Dinner in Auckland will celebrate the many men willing to show leadership and commitment to promoting safe, healthy relationships within families by making awards to those who have made a special contribution.

Date, Time and Venue
The White Ribbon Dinner will be held on Saturday 21^st November 6pm-10pm at Alexandra Park Events Centre. The evening will include dinner, live entertainment, key note speakers and awards presentations.

Nominations
You may nominate more than one person / organisation – please just use a different form for each nomination and only nominate for one category per form.

The Award Categories

• Individuals who make a difference in the community by giving a helping hand when it’s needed
• Individuals who make a difference in the organisation they belong to.
• Groups or organisations that make a difference to the community they operate in.

For more information DOWNLOAD THE FORM NOW
Closing date for submitting your nomination is by Friday 13^th November at 5pm
Contact person: Raewyn Bhana 0800 367 942  Email manager@safvpn.org.nz