On November 25^th, the whole world marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The date was set by the UN General Assembly in December 1999. The World Organization then called on governments, international and non-governmental organizations to take action to raise public awareness of the issue.

In Bulgaria, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women will be marked with a series of initiatives for 16 days, until December 10, when it is Human Rights Day (also established by the UN). The organizer is the team of the Bulgarian Fund for Women. The opening event is today, November 25^th, when the online premiere of the first album of its kind entitled "Bulgaria’s Eternal Hits" will take place. The titles included in it are some of the most beloved Bulgarian pop and rock songs - "My male girl", "That ache I feel in my left side", "Yearning for you", "Wealth" ... But there is no music involved, the titles are misleading but they certainly provoke interest.

"The eleven "hits" sound just the way millions of Bulgarian women hear them and the way they have never been hear on the radio, for example. These are monologues of abusers of women to their victims. They are performed by actors, but the words are authentic. These are expressions of humiliation and mockery of women, which show how love sometimes degenerates into aggression. The texts describe literally cases of different types of violence. Unfortunately, it is possible for every one of us to recognize some of our relatives or friends," says Gergana Kutseva, a representative of the Bulgarian Fund for Women. The recordings, available for online listening, will be published on the organization's Facebook page, and a vinyl record will be released later.

The mission of this project is to recall the grim statistics - every two weeks a woman is killed while listening to one of these or similar verbal outbursts. Every year more than 1,000,000 Bulgarian women of all ages are subjected to violence. Every year, dozens of Bulgarian women are killed by their current or ex-husbands or partners and by a pandemic called violence against women.

The Bulgarian Fund for Women wants to draw public attention to another worrying fact - cases of violence against women are often downplayed, silenced and even tolerated. Is it a matter of mentality, upbringing or a mere lack of empathy? Whatever the reason, it could be overcome with the will and effort of each one of us.