Participants 200,000 - 500,000 Location Lima | Date 13 August 2016 | |
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Cause Protest against femicides and violence against women in Peru | ||
#NiUnaMenos (Spanish: Not one less) was a demonstration that took place in Peru on August 13, 2016. It was a protest against femicides and violence against women in the country, and has been characterized as the largest demonstration in Peruvian history.
Contents
Context
According to Peru's National Statistics Institute latest survey (2014), 32.3% of Peruvian women had at some point experienced physical violence from a spouse or partner, and 11.9% had experienced such in the previous 12 months. The country's national human rights ombudsman's office has estimated that every month 10 women are killed by their partners. A 2015 study by the same office revealed that from January 2009 to October 2015, 795 femicides were committed, but the courts had issued only 84 sentences between 2012 and 2015. In 81% of the cases of attempted femicide no measures were taken by authorities to protect the survivor, and 24% of women who turned to the justice system for help were later murdered by the very men from whom they had sought protection.
The protest was called as a show of indignation following the freeing of Adriano Pozo Arias from jail. In July 2015 Pozo had been captured on video attacking Cindy Arlette Contreras Bautista in a hotel in the city of Ayacucho, and dragging her by the hair. On 22 July 2016 a three-judge panel issued Pozo a 1-year suspended prison sentence and ordered him released from jail.
The demonstration was called with the hashtags "#NiUnaMenos" and "#A13", and the slogan "If they lay a hand on one of us, they lay a hand on all of us" (Si tocan a una, tocan a todas).
Protest
The protest took place in the streets of Lima, and other cities, on August 13, 2016.
The march in Lima started at the El Campo de Marte park, and proceeded to Plaza San Martín in Lima's historic downtown, before ending with a rally before the Palace of Justice. It was attended by an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 people (though at least one news outlet puts the figure at 1 million), comprising a column 30 blocks long, led by Cindy Arlette Contreras Bautista, Lady Guillén, and other women who had survived violence. It has been characterized as the largest march in Peruvian history.