Photos: Dutch buildings colored orange to protest violence against women

On Sunday evening a number of buildings in various Dutch cities were colored orange to draw attention to violence against women and girls. The United Nations proclaimed November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Over the next 16 days, this campaign will get attention worldwide, NU.nl reports.

In the Netherlands, at least 32 buildings in 22 different places were illuminated in orange on Sunday. These included the Grote Kerk in Breda, The EYE film museum in Amsterdam, and the Erasmus bridge and Euromast in Rotterdam.

This campaign was launched by the UN on November 25th, 1960, when three female political activists were murdered in the Dominican Republic.

According to the UN, one in three women worldwide are victims of violence. A study by Rutgers showed that 22 percent of Dutch women dealt with sexual violence in 2017, compared to 6 percent of men. If kissing and unwanted touches were also taken into account, the percentages stood at 53 percent of Dutch women and 19 percent of Dutch men.