PSA: Georgian Rugby Players Say NO to Violence against Women

This PSA was produced as part of the UN Women project "SHiEld -- Enhancing Prevention and Response to Domestic Violence in Georgia (funded by Sida). The project's communication campaign emphasizes the importance of outreach to strategic groups, in particular men and boys who play the utmost role in ending violence against women and girls. To that end, in the framework of the SHiEld project, UN Women in Georgia has actively partnered with the Georgian Rugby Union and the Georgian rugby players to promote zero tolerance towards the practice of violence against women. This PSA is one of several public awareness raising activities that have been carried out jointly with the Georgian Rugby Union and features Georgian rugby players.The campaign PSA was first premiered at the official ceremony dedicated to the UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign in May 2010. Representatives of the eight national rugby teams engaged in the Junior World Rugby Trophy in Georgia 2011 -- Canada, Georgia, Japan, Samoa, Russia, Uruguay, USA and Zimbabwe -- united under the UN Secretary--General, Ban Ki-Moon's campaign "UNiTE to End Violence against Women" by signing the affirmation to officially join the campaign. "When I was presented with the statistics of domestic violence in my country I was shocked and instantly decided to offer our support to UN Women for the UNiTE Campaign," said Georgian Rugby Union President George Nijaradze. "Rugby is a code of values and these are common to every country that plays the Game. We have to work together to ensure this initiative is successful."(Producer: UN Women, Date of Release: May 2010)