The WRS annual conference in 2019 took place at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. As with previous years we held the conference during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, and was deliberately held on the 29th of November – the International Women Human Rights Defenders Day. The day was dedicated to celebrate those around us defending women human rights, as well as showcasing all the different steps we had taken as a charity when trying to eliminate violence against women (VAW).
The day began with a speech from our key note speaker Mridul Wadhwa, the manager of Forth Valley Rape Crisis, addressing VAW and how her own experience of this had been compounded by being a trans woman of color. Throughout the day there was a variety of speakers including Chris Green from White Ribbon UK discussing our links with WR Ghana and Namibia and a drama performance from Naomi Breeze highlighting the severity of coercive control. The day was also packed full of other activities, such as head to heads between the male attendees, discussing how they can help end violence against women.
As the conference was celebrating the women human rights defenders, it was only apt that Rape Crisis Scotland attended to explain their ’16 Pounds for 16 Days’ and collected the money raised by the conference attendees to contribute to the campaign.