Together against street harassment
The City Hall, the Central Library and the district office of the municipality in Escamp will be lit up orange between Thursday November 25 an Wdennesday December 1 between 17 hours and 22 hours during the week of the International Day against Violence against Women. Lighting the buildings orange is part of the Orange the World campaign. Worldwide attention is drawn during this campaign to all forms of gender-based violence. This year, the municipality of The Hague is paying extra attention to street intimidation.

Research shows that almost half (45%) of residents in The Hague have experienced street harassment in 2020 and that only 18% report it. We know it’s a big problem, but now it’s also in black and white. Staring after, whistling, hissing, calling, but also following and touching. It’s intimidating and threatening. The Hague has been dealing with this for years on the boulevard of Scheveningen and in various neighborhoods in The Hague. “We want everyone to be able to walk comfortably and safely anywhere in The Hague. By signing the Safe Streets statement last year, the municipality indicated that it would not tolerate street intimidation. A year later, this resulted in a plan of approach ‘Together against street intimidation’ that focuses on prevention and awareness, the willingness to report and safety on the street,” says Alderman Arjen Kapteijns (Emancipation).

Tackling street harassment
The action plan requires attention for the victims, the perpetrators, as well as bystanders and other involved parties. Welfare and queer organisations, neighborhood sports coaches and boas are allowed to follow training in which they are offered perspectives for action. In 2022, the municipality will continue to focus on the ‘Changemakers’ project of Centrum 16•22. Changemakers is a national campaign to make young people between the ages of 12 and 24 aware of transgressive behavior and gender inequality and teach them to recognize situations of violence. Together with the night mayor, we go out to discuss street intimidation in the nightlife. Through Sex Matters’ safer clubbing training, we train staff at nightlife venues to make these venues safer and more inclusive. The municipality facilitates COC Haaglanden to provide information lessons about sexual, sex and gender diversity in primary, secondary and vocational education. In addition, we provide more insight into where victims of street harassment can receive support. For this we develop two social maps, a queer-specific map and a woman-specific map. More information can be seen at www.straatintimidatie.nl.

Orange the world
The City Hall will be highlighted in orange on Thursday November 25 at 19 hours under the direction of Zonta The Hague by Mayor Jan van Zanen and Alderman Arjen Kapteijns. Zonta Netherlands coordinates the Orange the World campaign in the Netherlands together with UN Women Netherlands and the Union of Soroptimist clubs in the Netherlands, Suriname and Curaçao. Orange is the color of the worldwide campaign on violence against women and girls. With the color orange we draw attention to gender-related violence during the Orange the World campaign. The color orange stands for a sunrise: the dawn in a future without violence. More information can be found at www.orangetheworld.nl.

Talk show about gender-based violence and street harassment
On Friday 26 November from 19 hours until 20 hours, the municipality is organizing a talk show in Nieuwspoort as part of Orange the World. The talk show will be broadcast live on www.haagsevrouwendagen.nl. Journalist Naeeda Aurangzeb, together with Tessel ten Zweege (experience expert/author/PISSWIFE), Korrie Louwes (municipality of The Hague, general director) and others will discuss experiences with gender-based violence and the need to continue to draw attention to this. Topics covered in the talk show include domestic violence and street harassment. There will also be a performance by spoken word artist Danielle Zawadi.

Stand Up Training
On Friday November 26 and Wednesday December 8, Fairspace offers free Stand UP training for interested parties. In Stand Up training you will learn five easy and safe ways to intervene if you see street harassment happening. Do you want to participate in the training? You can sign up for the training via www.haagsevrouwendagen.nl.