Simavi and EARTH Water launch ‘100% Sex-free Water’
Sacha de Boer voor Simavi - Sylvia met jerrycan in Kibera, Nairobi
Simavi en EARTH Water lanceren '100% Seksvrij Water' op Wereld Waterdag
Simavi en EARTH Water lanceren '100% Seksvrij Water'
Development organisation Simavi and social enterprise EARTH Water are launching ‘100% Sex-free Water’ today, on World Water Day. With this limited edition drink carton, the organisations are drawing attention to the uncomfortable truth that women and girls experience sexual violence due to the global water crisis in countries like Kenya and Bangladesh. ‘100% Sex-free Water’ forms part of Simavi’s ‘Stop Sex for Water’-campaign which highlights gender-based violence in relation to water and unsafe toilets and asks people to sign a petition.
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‘100% Sex-free Water’ | Drawing attention to women in water crisis
Simavi has been working for decades on access to water, especially for women and girls who are most vulnerable to the impact climate change is having on their water supplies. Simavi’s goal is to be able to offer over 80 thousand signatures to Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Water and Sanitation, in the autumn of 2024. Asking him to remind Member States of their responsibility to stop these human rights violations. Earlier, Simavi collected signatures to urge Dutch politicians to act, with success: a motion was passed by the Lower House of Parliament to pay more attention to local climate solutions.
Daily struggle
Sextortion, or sexual extortion, is a form of abuse of power in which women are pressurised to have sex in exchange for drinking water. This is fuelled by increasing water scarcity and lack of water supplies. As a result, women spend hours per day fetching water. Sabine Brusse, campaign manager at Simavi: “Access to clean drinking water is a human right, but still one in four people do not have safe access. Simavi believes everyone needs to wake up to the extreme scale of the water crisis. ‘100% Sex-free Water’ makes you think about how much we take for granted here.”
World Water Day
‘100% Sex-free Water’ will be launched on March 22nd, World Water Day, and will be available to EARTH Water customers, at various festivals, and visible throughout the Netherlands in an outdoor and online campaign. All campaign expressions will feature a QR code that goes directly to the petition that can be used to support the fight against sextortion.
Additional actions for ‘Stop Sex for Water’-campaign
The ‘Stop Sex for Water’ awareness campaign will also be highlighted through promotional teams, including the Misses of Miss Beauty of the Netherlands. “As a pageant, we stand for powerful women who also want to engage socially. We and our Misses are happy to contribute to the promotion of 100% Sex-free Water,” said Milou Verhoeks – founder and director Miss Beauty of the Netherlands. Public activations are also set up, such as an exhibition by photographer and visual storyteller Sacha de Boer. She portrayed women and girls in Kenya for Simavi last year who face the water crisis on a daily basis, including victims of sextortion. In 2024, De Boer will travel to Bangladesh for a new report. “Everyone should understand that climate change is also a women’s issue. Women are hit hardest by the changes, but they are also the changemakers, especially when it comes to local solutions,” De Boer said.
Availability of ‘100% Sex-free Water’
The packaging is available during the launch on World Water Day. And from mid-April as a limited edition through EARTH Water buyers such as the Dutch supermarket Jumbo and Dutch hospitality wholesalers such as Hanos, Sligro and Bidfood. The package is also available at festivals such as: Boothstock, The Crave, Best Kept Secret and Latin Village.
We previously wrote about inspiring actions by EARTH Water.
Website: Simavi
