KOTA KINABALU: In conjunction with this year’s White Ribbon Campaign, Good Shepherd Welfare Centre or Pusat Kebajikan Good Shepherd (PKGS) is launching a campaign for Harassment-Free Streets, an initiative to build a community free from public sexual harassment and assault.
The campaign, titled ‘Safe City – Streets Free from Harassment’, is a programme focused on men as the solution to ending sexual and street harassment towards creating a city that is pleasant to live, work and play for all genders and from all walks of life.
“Street harassment is one of the most common forms of violence against women,” said PKGS director, Chin Poh Choo, who highlighted that unwelcomed words and certain actions by strangers in public places, which is motivated by gender, can be defined as harassment.
“It includes acts such as catcalls and wolf whistling that invades a person’s physical and emotional space in a disrespectful or insulting way.
“Women are often told to just ignore street harassment, and even blamed by questioning what they are wearing at the time of the harassment, or the time of day it happened,” added Chin.
“The kinds of behaviour instil fear and limit a woman’s freedom to even enjoy the city that she lives in,” stated Chin, who also said the issue was appropriate with the White Ribbon Campaign, which is an internationally recognized non-violence against women event promoted by men.
The 16-day annual event, to be held from Nov 25 to Dec 20, will be launched at the Youthprep Centre in Alamesra on Nov 25 at 6.30pm and will include programmes such as a talk on street harassment and a swearing-in ceremony for the men supporting the end of street harassment.
Members of the public are encouraged to attend and lend support for this event.