Welcome to the WAVE 16 Days of Activism 2025 campaign. This year, we continue our mission to make the complexities of violence against women and girls understandable, visible, and urgent for audiences across Europe. Our focus for 2025 is clear: strengthen public awareness of the frameworks, services, and systems that exist to protect survivors, while highlighting the gaps that still need to be addressed.
Throughout these 16 Days, we will unpack the foundations of Europe’s response to violence against women and girls. We will make essential frameworks such as the Istanbul Convention and the EU Directive on Violence Against Women easier to understand, introduce the different types of women’s specialist services and why they matter, and share key insights from the upcoming WAVE Country Report 2025.
We will also explore thematic issues shaping the landscape today, from technology-facilitated violence to primary prevention, migrant and refugee women’s experiences, intersections of inequality such as forced marriage and marital captivity, and the persistent gaps in access to protection. Youth perspectives will be at the heart of this year’s campaign, with contributions from the WAVE Youth Ambassadors and insights from their survey regarding technology-facilitated violence against women and girls.
This year’s thread connects all 16 days: women’s specialist services are proving every day that safety and recovery are possible. They need sustainable funding to keep doing it. We invite you to follow along, amplify the voices of the women’s specialist services and activists working every day to end violence against women and girls, share what resonates, and if you can, support this work through WAVE’s donation page.
We’re not waiting for change. We are building it.
Explore the WAVE 16 Days of Activism 2025
From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to 10 December, International Human Rights Day, we will be sharing daily posts across our platforms with clear explanations, data, insights, and stories from across our network.
Stay connected, stay informed, and join us in advocating for safety, rights, and justice for all women and girls across Europe.
Together, we can build a future where every survivor has access to protection, support, and freedom from violence.
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
WAVE opens the 2025 campaign by highlighting women’s specialist services, the essential support systems that protect survivors and uphold women’s human rights across Europe. We introduce the different types of WSS, explain why they form critical infrastructure, and begin this year’s thread on the urgent need for sustainable, long-term funding for feminist civil society organisations.
A WAVE Statement for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is now available. It highlights how WAVE and its members work every day to build a world free from violence. You can read the full statement HERE.
Understanding the Istanbul Convention
Today we offer an accessible explainer on the Istanbul Convention: what it is, what it obliges states to do, and why it remains the strongest legally binding framework to prevent and combat violence against women. This breakdown introduces key principles and explains how the Convention guides national strategies on prevention, protection, and prosecution.
Followers are encouraged to share this resource to help strengthen public understanding of the frameworks that drive our work.
The EU Directive on Violence Against Women: A Closer Look
Building on yesterday’s framework, today we explore the new EU Directive on Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. We summarise its core elements, from criminalisation standards to victim protection and access to specialist support, while also highlighting gaps that still need to be addressed during implementation.
This explainer supports audiences in understanding how EU legislation shapes survivors’ access to justice and safety across Europe.
Country Report Sneak Peek #1: Women’s Helplines
Today we share the first preview from the upcoming WAVE Country Report 2025, focusing on women’s national helplines.
This year’s data shows notable improvements across Europe: 21 of 27 EU countries now meet Istanbul Convention standards for national women’s helplines, compared to 19 last year. Services in Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark and North Macedonia have expanded accessibility, including free access, multilingual support and 24/7 availability.
Followers are invited to “watch this space” as more key findings will be revealed in the days ahead.
Country Report Sneak Peek #2: Shelters
The second teaser focuses on women’s shelters.
Data for 2025 shows that the overall situation remains stable in the EU, though changes in data collection reveal shifts within countries. Sweden’s new national mapping shows fewer shelters overall but more bed spaces due to shelters becoming larger, alongside a rise in shelters accepting men and a concerning increase in shelters run by private, profit driven actors.
Outside the EU, declines in Azerbaijan and Belarus reflect funding cuts and shrinking civic space.
Another preview will follow tomorrow.
Country Report Sneak Peek #3: Women’s Centres & Access for Migrant and Refugee Women
Today’s preview highlights women’s centres, with mixed trends across Europe.
While access is relatively strong for refugee women in many countries, barriers persist for undocumented women, women with disabilities, and transgender women. Data shows that 49 percent of reporting countries have specialised centres supporting refugee women, yet access still depends heavily on national legal frameworks and funding.
We close our teaser series by inviting audiences to follow along for deeper thematic content in the coming days.
International Film Premiere: Mayday Rain (CEU)
WAVE supports the international premiere of Mayday Rain, a documentary examining Japan’s new joint custody law and its consequences for survivors of domestic violence and their children.
The screening, hosted by CEU, is followed by a panel discussion featuring advocates and experts, including WAVE Youth Advocacy Ambassador Branislava Arađan.
This event connects global custody debates to broader issues of institutional protection and survivor safety.
We invite our audiences to join us by registering HERE.
Giving Tuesday – Primary Prevention
On Giving Tuesday, we highlight the importance of primary prevention: education, awareness, early intervention, and long term social change. Prevention work is essential to reducing violence, yet it remains chronically underfunded across Europe.
Today we draw attention to why prevention matters and how sustainable investment can help transform future generations’ safety and equality.
Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence
We examine how technology facilitated gender based violence is evolving, from online harassment to deepfakes and digital stalking. Over the past days, our WAVE Youth Ambassadors have been leading a powerful online campaign shining a light on technology-facilitated gender-based violence and sharing key insights from the digital violence survey.
This day highlights both the complexity of digital violence and the role youth activism plays in shaping safer online spaces. This day brings together the voices of young activists with fresh research and analysis – showing just how crucial youth leadership is in the fight for safer, more inclusive online communities. Keep an eye out for our upcoming article on this topic by one of our interns as well!
Forced Marriage & Marital Captivity
Today we examine two forms of violence that remain under recognised across Europe: forced marriage and marital captivity. These practices restrict women’s autonomy, compromise their safety, and can trap them in situations where access to protection, divorce, or residency rights becomes severely limited. Drawing from examples across the WAVE Network, we highlight the systemic obstacles survivors face and the need for stronger legal and cross border safeguards.
This thematic day underscores why specialised, rights based support services must be accessible to all women who experience these forms of violence.
Exclusive Webinar
From 11:00–12:30 (CET), WAVE member Femmes for Freedom hosts a dedicated webinar on forced marriage and marital captivity, exploring case examples, legal frameworks, and practical approaches to supporting affected women.
EXCLUSIVE FOR WAVE MEMBERS
More info HERE!
Why Funding Matters for Women’s Specialist Services
Funding is one of the most decisive factors shaping the availability and quality of women’s specialist services. Many centres continue to operate with insecure or short term funding, affecting their ability to protect survivors and meet international standards.
Today we highlight why sustainable investment is essential for long term support, service continuity, and meaningful implementation of the Istanbul Convention.
Migrant and Refugee Women
Today we spotlight migrant and refugee women, whose access to protection varies significantly across Europe. Many face additional risks due to language barriers, residency status, discrimination, and limited service availability. We share insights from the WAVE network on barriers and promising practices that support women regardless of their documentation status.
This day calls for inclusive policies that ensure safety and justice for all survivors.
Intersectionality: Voices from our Multi-Disciplinary Training in Brussels
Today we focus on intersectionality and the importance of recognising how different experiences, identities, and inequalities shape women’s exposure to violence and access to protection. As part of this year’s thematic content, we share reflections from our recent multi-stakeholder dialogue in Brussels, highlighting how cross-movement conversations can strengthen understanding and solidarity.
Femicide Awareness with Youth Ambassadors
Today’s focus is femicide, one of the most severe and persistent forms of violence against women. We share a message contributed by the WAVE Youth Ambassadors along with an article from one of our interns examining the systemic factors that continue to enable gender related killings of women across Europe. Insights from recent data and frontline practice highlight where protection systems must be strengthened.
This day underscores the urgency of coordinated prevention efforts, institutional accountability, and survivor centred responses.
Accountability, Policy Gaps, and Sustainable Funding
As the campaign nears its end, today we focus on accountability. Across Europe, gaps remain in justice systems, funding structures, and institutional responses that leave many survivors without the protection and support they need. When policies fail to ensure sustainable specialist services such as shelters, women and their children are left without accessible pathways to safety, recovery, and justice.
Women’s specialist services save lives. Their sustainability depends on policy commitments that include stable and long term financial support, so all survivors can access help when they need it.
This day reinforces that closing policy gaps and resourcing services properly are essential for meaningful, lasting change.
International Human Rights Day
On International Human Rights Day, we close the campaign by reaffirming that women’s rights are human rights. This is a moment to reflect on the progress made, the insights shared over the past 16 days, and the ongoing work needed to protect equality and safety across Europe.
We invite followers to continue advocating for a future where every woman lives free from violence and discrimination.
