International Rescue Committee UK

2009 marks the 18th anniversary of the "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence" campaign. The campaign brings together people from around the world to speak out against violence against women. The campaign begins each year on 25 November - the International Day Against Violence Against Women - and continues until 10 December, International Human Rights Day. These dates were chosen to highlight how violence against women is a serious violation of human rights. Over 2,000 organisations from 156 countries have participated in the campaign since 1991, according to the Centre for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, which launched the event.

To mark the start of this year's 16 Days campaign, Heidi Lehmann, the director of the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) gender-based violence technical unit, discusses how the IRC is making a difference in the lives of women and girls in conflict zones around the world...

When a conflict erupts, it is women and girls who are put at greatest risk. In flight, in the shelter of a refugee camp, and even in their own homes, women and girls are extremely vulnerable to sexual and other forms of violence. And when the war finally ends, the risk of violence does not disappear.

Reading today's headlines, there are times when our instinct might be to look away. The situation seems too overwhelming to confront. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 20 years of civil war and conflict have resulted in a wave of violence against women and girls. In Somalia, a woman who was accused of adultery was recently buried up to her waist and stoned to death. Every day, in Yemen, in Burma, in Ethiopia and in many other countries around the world, a young girl will die in childbirth. This violence doesn't just threaten the lives of women and girls - it curtails their education, limits their opportunities and destroys their potential to be leaders.

As the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence begin, I salute my IRC colleagues who do not look away. The IRC is the only international humanitarian organisation with a department focused exclusively on preventing violence against women and girls. Over 100 staff members in 17 countries work tirelessly in this struggle. They work under the most difficult circumstances imaginable and confront head-on one of the most urgent and devastating human rights issue of our time.

Over the next 16 days you will hear from IRC staff members about their daily work with brave and inspirational women and girls from many countries. Whether they are developing a plan to ensure the safety of adolescent girls who have been sexually assaulted, helping men to change the attitudes and beliefs that hurt women, or putting more money and resources - and more power to make decisions - directly into the hands of women and girls, my IRC colleagues create options where none existed before.

Because for the women and girls who live in conflict zones around the world the worst possible thing any of us can do is look away.

For more information on 16 Days Against Gender Violence