On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Diotima Center organized an open presentation event for the “Don’t Skip – Don’t skip gender-based violence” campaign, which was implemented with the kind support of the Papastratos company. The event took place on Sunday, November 25, 2018, at the Trianon cinema.

The turnout, which had started early, filled the warm foyer of the cinema with men and women, of younger and older ages, who were informed and provided with the material for the organization’s actions.

The event, which was attended by more than 100 people, was presented by the actress Romanna Lobach, emphasizing that “the goal of the campaign was to draw attention to domestic violence, a global and everyday but invisible phenomenon, as a small percentage of women report it to the authorities.”

This was followed by the speeches of the participants and contributors of the campaign, whom we sincerely thank for their non-profit participation and practical support in our joint effort. The campaign spots were shown between the speeches.

Initially, the head of legal services from the Diotima Center, Despina Tsouma, presented the organization’s long-standing and multi-level activity, the main objective of which is gender equality and the abolition of discrimination against women.

“Our main effort is for women survivors of gender-based violence to gain their self-esteem and therefore their voice. It’s remarkable that after two months, when these women participated in empowerment groups, women who were ashamed to say their names, could now look up, look at you and speak courageously about what happened to them.”

In addition, she pointed out that the goal of the Don’t Skip campaign “is to address the general public, the neighbor, the friend, relative, colleague, who may hear, see, suspect, know of an incident of gender-based violence but does not intervene, considering that this is a private matter.”

“99% of the women who come to us do not have a supportive environment, witnesses, a hug to welcome them when they are forced to run away from home, friends to stand by them. On the contrary, they often have to face social stigmatization and various exhortations not to break up the family, as if they themselves are responsible for the violence they experience.”

This was followed by the speech of the communication director of the Papastratos company, Christina Akouri, emphasizing that the Papastratos company has a long tradition of empowering women.

Then the Pan-Hellenic boxing champion Katerina Koutsogeorgopoulou, who participated in one of the spots together with her coach Nikos Drosopoulos, took the floor. Ms. Koutsogeorgopoulou underlined that such campaigns are necessary, while she also referred to their own initiative every November 25, which includes the organization of friendly matches with female boxers and has as its central slogan “Fist to violence”.

Concluding, she said “By participating in this campaign, we want to send the message that through combat sports, women’s self-confidence can be strengthened, and they can face difficult situations, such as those faced by the women who take refuge in the Diotima Center”

The director Alexis Koukias referred to the directorial approach of the central message of the campaign.

The popular actor Errikos Litsis spoke about his own involvement in the campaign and his participation in its latest spot, which went viral, with more than 1 million views.

As he emphasized, “I hope that all women who recognize from this video a relative who treats them like this, find the courage to report it to the authorities.”

Finally, the director – jury member Evi Karabatsou pointed out that: “Gender violence is not limited to the walls of a house. Gender-based violence is experienced by women in Moria, Chios, Eleonas, immigrant women trying to cross the border from Mexico to America, etc.

This was followed by the awarding of the audience prize (Our Bodies, Polyxeni Fotopoulou) and the jury prize (Everything is fine, by Dimitris Ballotta and Claudia Cornea) to the creators who distinguished themselves in the Short Film Competition “New and Young Creators Against violence against women’, which was announced as part of the campaign, while both distinguished films were screened.

Watch the video from the event (no English version available)