The two-minute film depicts four scenes of women experiencing domestic violence and sees all actors placing helmets on their heads before they return home. Photo supplied
A Cambodian NGO’s educational video campaign on domestic violence has gone viral, having been viewed more than one million times on Facebook.
The End Violence Together campaign was produced by This Life Cambodia (TLC) – a development organisation supporting vulnerable children, families and communities in Cambodia – and features a short film depicting four scenes of women experiencing domestic violence.
The two-minute film sees an office worker, a rice field worker, a garment worker and a student, all placing helmets on their heads before they return home. The message is a simple but powerful one – women, across the globe, are more likely to be murdered in their own home by a husband or family member than anywhere else.
“More than 1.7 million people have been reached by this educational campaign video or one in 10 people in Cambodia. Many people have reported their own experiences about violent abuse,” TLC’s marketing and communication manager Jaime Gill said.
He said the purpose of the campaign was to “mobilise communities to address the risk factors and impact of domestic violence on families and communities . . . and strengthen the coordination and provision of community responses to increase access to justice and support for victims/survivors.”
TLC’s domestic violence project known as the This Life Without Violence programme works with more than 3,500 women and children across 22 communes in Cambodia.
There were over 256k reactions (likes, comments and shares) to the video by Facebook users moved by the scenes, with TLC receiving a flurry of feedback from women in Cambodia sharing their own experiences.
The 2014 Cambodian Demographic and Health Survey said among women aged between 15 and 49 years, approximately 20 per cent (670,156) had suffered physical violence, while six per cent has faced sexual abuse.
Strikingly, 49 per cent of sexually and physically abused women did not report the crimes.
TLC community programme coordinator Hong Sarith said: “Sadly, many women we work with who face violence don’t realise it is unacceptable and that they are protected by the law. Only a quarter of women who experience violence seek any help. Forty per cent [of women who do not report the crimes] say this is because they think it’s normal, while 30 per cent don’t report because of embarrassment.
“We need to remind men that domestic violence is a crime and women that there is a law to protect them. It’s time to End Violence Together.”
TLC’s campaign was part of a high-profile worldwide UN campaign that started on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, calling for 16 days of activism to eliminate gender-based violence around the globe.
TLC deputy executive director Chhin Se said: “We’ve created a campaign we hope will break through taboos and make women and children realise there is something they can do, and they don’t have to accept it.
“We’re very grateful to the many people who have supported us, especially the famous artists and activists who have helped us get the word out widely.”
