The CWSP replied to the Call for Action of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership and announced in advance this year’s 16 Days Campaign Against Violence Against Women: “FOR THE HEALTH OF WOMEN, FOR THE HEALTH OF THE WORLD: NO MORE VIOLENCE” (25 November -10 December).

As usual, the CWSP participates in this year’s campaign by collecting information about Bulgarian initiatives dedicated to the 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women. CWSP provides Bulgarian activities with publicity by publishing them in out electronic Newsletter on Violence against Women, and by posting them both on the CWSP’s site and the Bulgarian page of the International STOPVAW site (www.stopvaw.org ).

Additionally, CWSP translated in Bulgarian and uploaded some of the materials concerning this year 16 Days Campaign disseminated by the Center for Women's Global Leadership. For instance, CWSP sent Bulgarian translation of the Current campaign announcement (in Microsoft Word format) to the Center for Women’s Global Leadership so that it can be posted together with the English, Spanish, French, Polish and Arabic ones this way mobilizing Bulgarian women’s rights activists and broadening the scope of possible readers and participants in the campaign.

Within the framework of the 16 days campaign the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bulgaria and the Center of Women’s Studies and Policies organized on 28 November 2005 a Roundtable discussion on: Women's Participation in Politics and Decision Making, dedicated to the 10^th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 5^th anniversary of the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals. The roundtable is aimed at promoting women’s participation in the decision-making process and this way by influencing the positive image of women in society to reduce the possibility of violence against women. Moreover, many of the invited  leaders of the parliamentary represented political parties, Members of Parliament, representatives of the executive, NGOs, political scientists, sociologists and pollsters, gender equality experts were among the key actors in the drafting and lobbying for the adoption of the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence.

The Roundtable will discuss the Parliamentary Elections (June, 2005) regarding the recruitment and nomination of women in the party lists on elective positions, and the achieved results; the participation of women in local governance and local authorities; the declared gender equality in legislation and parties’ programs  and its realization de facto; the differences between gender equality and equal treatment of men and women; the difference between anti-discrimination measures and affirmative measures for gender equality; how to achieve competent political debate and efficient governance through equal participation of women and men and not through quantitatively measured representation;  possibilities for collaboration between political parties and the civil society in that area.