Stop Violence Against Women Campaign

This advocacy initiative is based on two core premises: first, that "Violence against women is frequently rooted in social and cultural tradition and reinforces women's inequality", and second, that "As women with the ability to take action, we have a special opportunity - and perhaps a responsibility - to be leaders in enacting a new era in women's human rights." Roused by this reasoning, organisers are using the media, research, and grassroots activist strategies to "bring the power of international human rights home to bolster individuals and organizations in communities throughout the world fighting for women's rights and safety." These words are meant to empower women to participate together in securing the basic right to be free from violence.

Celebrities including actress Mira Sorvino seek to spread awareness of the issues by telling their own stories through media such as an editorial [PDF] in the women's/fashion magazine Marie Claire. Here, Ms. Sorvino urges participatory action by writing, "We must all get involved: Ignoring the violence allows it to spread. Through constant pressure on governments and international groups, protecting women can be made into law, law into action, action into education, and education into true societal change". Marie Claire also published an 8-page personal account of rape in Sudan ("I am the Mother of My Enemy's Child" [PDF]) and an article titled "Stop the Rape, Torture & Abduction of Chechen Women" [PDF]. In short, a popular women's magazine is used as a channel to raise awareness among women, using language meant to shake people out of ignorance, passivity, and complicity. Actress Susan Sarandon also lends her voice to a flash video featuring imagery meant to move viewers; it may be viewed on the Stop Violence Against Women Campaign website. This website is a key channel for sharing information with citizens about the background and contextual human rights issues involved in the problem of violence against women.

In addition to learning more about the problem and sharing information with friends through interactive online features, women (and men) who visit this website are urged to donate money to support campaign research and other efforts. Working with governments and the United Nations, Amnesty has sought to document and make the public aware of the unique ways in which women struggle for their rights. Based on this research, the organisation plans to work over the campaign period to engage in advocacy to:

• protect women in armed conflict and post-conflict situations by urging the development of laws that would expose and punish the use of rape as a tool of war - and by helping put in place strategies for holding peacekeepers accountable for violence against women and girls ("In post-war Kosovo, trafficking in women and forced prostitution is still commonplace. Tragically, peacekeeping forces have been involved.")
• end discrimination against women by pressing countries to ratify the Women's Human Rights Treaty (CEDAW) - starting with the United States (organisers will identify 20 key U.S. senators to lobby for the ratification of CEDAW). Amnesty will also press the U.S. government to provide asylum for women who are fleeing sexual oppression, domestic violence, honour killings, and similar crimes, where the refugees' home countries tolerate or condone such behaviour. Finally, Amnesty plans to pressure the United States and other countries to pass tough laws against domestic violence and insure that these new laws will be enforced without discrimination against women who suffer abuse in their homes.
• defend women around the world who fight for human rights (and especially women's rights), whom Amnesty characterises as subject to harassment, violence, and unjust imprisonment. Amnesty promises to mobilise its global network to protect women activists and to work with all who are engaged in the struggle for women's rights within their borders.

Women, Violence, Conflict, Rights.

According to Amnesty International, 1 out of every 3 women has been beaten, forced into sex, or abused in her lifetime. The organisation states that "Widespread abduction and rape goes unreported in Iraq because women fear reprisals for tarnishing family 'honor.' Girls as young as eight are being raped in Darfur, Sudan, and used as sex slaves. In Rwanda, almost 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 genocide, resulting in 5,000 pregnancies." The UN Secretary-General reports that 80% of casualties in recent armed conflicts have been women and children.