Friday, February 15, 2013

One Billion Rising: Campaign against violence

You see the smiles on their faces and the rhythm in their feet, but their campaign is against a dark epidemic they say impacts “One Billion Rising”.

More than a hundred students at the University of Illinois Springfield are so concerned with sexual assault and abuse they spent hours working on a dance just to get their cause noticed. And while it is an issue most people think impacts women, it is the men who can also make a difference.

“It is a women's issue, but it is a world issue," One Billion Rising activist Zach Berillo said. "It's a men's issue just as much."

He is one of more than a hundred students, faculty and other activists who are trying to fight a startling statistic.

“With the planet's population over 7 billion, we know that at least one billion women and girls now walking the Earth have been or will be raped, beaten or killed," UIS Women’s Center Director Lynn Otterson said. "This is happening in 200 countries today.”

The WICS-TV 20 story aired on February 14, 2013.

Watch the story online