PCI Produces Radio Spots to Combat Gender Violence

Public Service Announcements Airing in Latin America and the Caribbean

New York, December 6, 2006 – PCI announces the release of four dramatic radio public service announcements in support of “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence,” a multi-media campaign organized by a coalition of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working for women’s rights in the region.

The public service announcements (PSAs) will air on radio stations across Latin America and the Caribbean from November 25 to December 10, when PCI joins with governments, women activists, journalists, UN agencies, and NGOs throughout the region in calling for an end to all forms of violence against women. The “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence” campaign amounts to a public plea for greater prevention efforts, support services, legal and judicial reform, and the use international human rights law to address violence against women.

UNIFEM Chief of Latin America and Caribbean, Marijke Velzeboer-Salcedo, said about the campaign, "We again join forces with women’s organizations, United Nations Organizations, and our government partners to remind us all that violence against women continues to be the most prevalent human rights abuse, affecting one out of three women in the Americas."  

She continued, "The Campaign calls for women and men to work together to stop the violence and dismantle the unequal power structures that underlie it. The campaign provides practical information about the laws that have been passed in the countries in the Americas, about the persistence of the problem and the growing tragic consequence of feminicide, the killing of women. It also sheds some positive light on the advances made in addressing this scourge and some actions that women and men can take to prevent it."

“These radio spots shed light on a global issue that is seldom-discussed, and yet one that is at the core of PCI’s work: namely, ending the cycle of violence against women. We hope these PSAs will raise awareness of this devastating problem, and promote every woman’s right to live free from violence,” said PCI Executive Director, Michael Castlen.

The PSAs include dramatizations that showcase positive gender roles and promote anti-violence messages. In one, a man raised in a household with an abusive father chooses to break the cycle of violence in his own household. In another, a woman taught by her mother to accept abuse as part of marriage asserts that violence is a crime, and proclaims that she and her husband treat each other with love and respect.

Of the PSAs and PCI's work Ms. Velzeboer-Salcedo said, "The radio spots reinforce these actions taken by a modern couple who express their love through equal treatment and respect, discarding stereo types that subject women to serve their husbands. We hope that these messages reach the thousands of men and women to change the power structures that condone violence against women."  

PCI worked with partner Calandria Association of Social Communicators, a Peru-based NGO, to produce the PSAs. Since 2004, Calandria and PCI have jointly developed two radio Entertainment-Education projects, ‘Loma Luna (Moon Hill)’ in 2004-05 and ‘Empezando A Vivir (Beginning to Live)’ in 2005-06.

"Calandria is proud of its collaboration with PCI," said Executive Director, Mirtha Correa Alamo. "Gender violence in all forms must stop, and media is one of the most effective tools we have to achieve that goal. We hope that our radio campaign will do its part to finally end the scourge of violence against women in Latin America and elsewhere."

PCI distributed the radio spots throughout its network of partners across Latin America, while Isis International, an NGO dedicated to women’s information and communication needs, distributed 500 CDs of the PSAs to its own partners across the region. An evaluation is planned and the results will be used to inform the production of future campaigns.