The Virtual Camp ¡Juventudes YA! is an initiative carried out since 2018 by the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACRO) of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) that is replicated in more than 18 countries in the continent.
This year the training proposal seeks to strengthen knowledge and promote, from the advocacy initiatives of youth organizations and groups, the development of proposals aimed at eliminating gender-based violence, transforming the norms and social imaginaries that reproduce violence against women, adolescent and girls.
The Virtual Camp ¡Juventudes YA! 2020 gets special relevance as it takes place in a very critical context for the world, and for Peru in particular, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has meant having to reformulate and adapt the training proposal to the virtual modality, with all the challenges that it carries.
Thanks to the commitment and work of all partners: Oxfam, Plan International, INPPARES, PROMSEX, Flora Tristán, Girlgov and Apropo; and allies such as the National Elections Jury, the human team involved, and thanks to the substantive support of the Regional Office of UNFPA for Latin America and the Caribbean, today 30 adolescents and young people from different parts of the country are part of the change against gender-based violence.
It is important to highlight the diversity of the group of participants. These are men and women between 15 and 26 years old; from Tacna, Cajamarca, Cusco, La Libertad, Trujillo, among other regions, who are part of different groups linked to the Afro-descendant, indigenous, mestizo, LGTBIQ + community and the migrant community.
“The COVID-19 pandemic comes with another crisis: gender violence” Markus Behrend, Representante del UNFPA en Perú
COVID-19 has obvious repercussions on the increase in gender violence, which is why it is especially relevant that Camp ¡Juventudes YA! 2020 focuses on this issue. Specifically in Peru, the pandemic has increased levels of violence in the context of confinement and social immobilization measures by exposing girls, adolescents, and adult women to domestic violence and abuse.
According to a report by the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations, within the framework of the health emergency, the national emergency lines and platforms have received 96,264 calls related to cases of violence, and 13,075 were attended in Emergency Care Services. 85% of the reported cases are related to violence against girls, adolescents and adult women. (Data from March 16 to July 31, 2020).
The role of youth in the face of this adverse scenario
Peru has a young face. 9 million adolescents and young people (12 to 29 years old) have and will have an enormous influence in defining the future of the country. The decisions we make today with and for them can make a difference. This training Camp seeks to provide them with more knowledge and tools so that they continue with advocacy efforts from their collectives and organizations, but above all it seeks to generate a space for dialogue to build a common commitment to achieve a fairer and more equal country that rejects gender violence in all its manifestations.
We have the leadership, commitment and action of the Youth!
#JuventudesYA2020
