Press Release

CHICAGO PCG JOINS 18-DAY CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

03 December 2025 - The Philippine Consulate General in Chicago kicked off the 18-day campaign to eliminate violence against women in an awareness event on 28 November, where video clips from the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) on VAW were shown.

(Photo above: Consul Ma. Theresa M. Alders delivering her opening remarks)

(Photo above) Participants to the awareness event on the 18-day Campaign on VAW

watching film clips on VAW.

On 1 December, Chicago PCG, in collaboration with the Division on Gender-Based Violence of the City of Chicago, held a training seminar for Consulate personnel and members of Filipino community organizations in Illinois and Wisconsin on domestic and gender-based violence. The event aimed to increase awareness of local resources that may be tapped for those who are working with women and children experiencing domestic and gender-based violence.

In her opening remarks, Consul General Melanie Rita B. Diano emphasized that seminars such as these equip all of us with the necessary knowledge and skills to advocate for a VAW-free society, and to safely and effectively intervene when and if we witness violence.

Resource persons from the Division on Gender Based Violence (DGBV) of the City of Chicago, Ms. Laura Ng and Ms. Deirde Harrington, provided in-depth discussions on the multiple forms and faces of gender-based violence based on a wealth of experience as human trafficking and gender based violence policy experts, respectively. They also shared the available and well-established system of resource centers/networks of support, as well as legal services available to victims of domestic violence. [END]

(Photo above) Consul General Melanie Rita B. Diano delivering her opening remarks.

(Photo above) Ms. Laura Ng giving her lecture during the “Love Shouldn't Hurt: Seminar/p>

on Domestic Violence and Gender-Based Violence Awareness”

(Photo above) Ms. Deirdre Harrington during her lecture in the “Love Shouldn't Hurt: Seminar

on Domestic Violence and Gender-Based Violence Awareness”

Consul General Diano poses with (from left to right) Consul Alders, Ms. Harrington

and Ms. Ng at the end of the training seminar.