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They had a lengthy and emotional ceremony at the Radisson today where we picked out the women at the front and center of the campaign to ask them, where are the men?:

Ann-Marie Williams
"16 Days of Activism is an international observance and so it's not only Belize, but Belize joining the rest of the world and we have to continue to do it as long as men continue to violate women and girls. If there were no violations, we don't have to do it, because these 16 days ramp up the activities that we've been doing all year round."

Kim Simplis-Barrow
"For us this is symbolic. it's a time to really focus and look at it in a way that we try to bring people together to give their testimonies and so forth."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Is this reaching through to the people needed to reach through or is it just speaking to the converted, such as those we've seen in the room today?"

Kim Simplis-Barrow
"Well I think that we are getting more and more people to speak about it. I think that more and more people are feeling confident to come out and talk about it and that's what we need. We need victims of violence to start with me too."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"What we are we talking about in here is 16 days of victims. Why don't we have 16 days of healing for the men? Obviously people who hurt other people are persons who are themselves hurt. Why don't you all look at the men and realize that the problem is not with the victims. The problems is with who is perpetrating it and its men, hurt men."

Kim Simplis-Barrow
"Well we need to get our women and girls to understand that they have a way out and that they can step away from the violence - that this is not something that they should stay in."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"If we agree that men are the problem, then shouldn't you all focus instead your healing, instead of focus on the victims who are the symptoms of the sickness that apparently men have. Shouldn't you all then try to heal the men?"

Ann-Marie Williams
"This is why we do programs at all levels, to socialize children from early, because it has to do with how we raise our children. The early socialization, where we raise boys differently than girls and so it's at all levels - gender equality doesn't mean only men and women, but women have to be empowered because they have been left behind. So it's a leveling of the playing field while attacking the problem."

Kim Simplis-Barrow
"You're right, maybe we should start doing something where we focus on bringing the men, the violators. Let's see how that will go."

Activities will be held throughout the week, and one of the highlites comes on Saturday with the "Don't Call Me Baby!" Anti-Street Harassment Campaign and Awareness Walk - which starts at the UB Faculty of Education and Arts from 9:00 to 11:00 am. Saturday is the international day to eliminate violence against women and girls.