UP ‘rape free’ campaign on

In celebration of International Human Rights Day, some 100 students of the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman joined yesterday the formal launching of its "Rape-Free Campus" and "Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC)-free campus" campaigns.

The activity was held at the Quezon Hall and was participated in by students, faculty members, the administrative staff, and residents of Barangay UP.

University Center for Women’s Studies (UPCWS) director Carolyn Sobritchen said the university has been encountering "problems common to society in general such as rape, date-rape, and sexual harassment." She also mentioned "initiation rape" in university fraternities and other organizations.

UPCWS and the UP Diliman Gender Officer (UPDGO) organized the activity. There were simultaneous launches held in the UP campus in Baguio, Los Baños, Manila, Iloilo, Cebu, Tacloban, Mindanao, and the Open University.

While Sobritchen declined to give the latest statistics in accordance with the "confidentiality" agreement between the victim and the center’s Crisis Counseling facility, she said that the Center last year handled about 200 cases of violence against women and children that happened inside the campus as well as its neighboring communities, such as Barangay Payatas.

For her part, UP Barangay Captain Mel Advincula said her office received a total of 101 complaints of different forms of violence last November alone. Some 24 percent of these complaints were violence against women or VAW, Advincula added.

Advincula recently won the V-Day Award for establishing the UP Barangay Family Community and Healing Center as a concrete response to the rising violence in the community. V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.

Advincula, Sobritchen, and Dr. Benedicta Lascano of the UP Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs office said perpetrators from outside easily prowl the campus because of UP’s open entrance and exit points.

Many of the reported incidents happened along Ylanan Street, near the College of Human Kinetics, which leads to Commonwealth Avenue. – Nikko Dizon