More than 14,000 adolescents and young people participated in the ninth edition of the Violence-Free Dating campaign
For the ninth consecutive year, the Violence-Free Dating initiative involves all government agencies and is positioned as the most important strategic line of prevention of gender-based violence in the country. Since 2016, more than 120,000 young people throughout Uruguay participated. The authorities of the Ministry of Social Development and the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) participated in the closing of the 2024 edition.
The event took place this Monday the 30th in the Nelly Goitiño del Sodre room, with the presence of the Minister of Social Development, Nicolás Sciarra; the director of ANEP, Virginia Cáceres; and the director of the National Women’s Institute (Inmujeres), Mónica Bottero.
Also attending were the advisor of ANEP, Dora Graziano, the director of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), Fernanda Maldonado; and the head of the National Youth Institute (INJU) Aparicio Saravia, among other authorities.
It is essential to work permanently with young people, reflected Cáceres, in dialogue with the press. The importance of consent, respect for the will of others, and building healthy bonds continue to be the priorities of this initiative, he added.
It is a program that achieves good results and very good reception by young people and teachers. We must continue advancing so that it becomes a stable program throughout the educational system, he noted.
In 2024, more than 14,000 adolescents and young people were involved in promoting dating relationships free of violence, through the support of 9,800 adult references.
Bottero indicated that this program is the main public policy on prevention in the educational system towards young people. “Dialogue is key at this stage of life,” he reflected.
It is a tool that offers guidelines on how to maintain a healthy and respectful relationship. Since 2016, more than 120,000 adolescents and young people from educational centers throughout the country participated, he said.
For his part, Sciarra valued the interest and commitment of adolescents in this initiative. It is a program that young people take over year after year, he assured. «They are the present and the future and they are the ones who build non-violent dating relationships every day.
