Norwich Amnesty

You are here: 

• Home
• > Campaigns
• > Women's Group

• Home
• Campaigns
  • Local Action
  • Prisoner Caseworker Group
  • Children's Group
  • Women's Group
  • Arms
• News and Events
• Fundraising
• Get Active
• Group Contacts
• Useful Links
• Urgent Action
• Shopping
• Open Meetings
• Open meeting minutes

Women's Group

   

We have a strong Women's Group which you can be part of.

We have many causes that we fight for on behalf of disadvantaged, abused and persecuted women worldwide.

On 5 March 2004 - in the lead up to International Women's Day - Amnesty launched a global campaign to stop violence against women.

The Stop Violence Against Women campaign focuses on ending violence against women in the family and in conflict/post conflict situations: two of the most dangerous environments for millions of women throughout the world. The creation of a world in which women and girls are afforded their basic human rights is our ultimate goal.

Violence against women is never normal, legal or acceptable and should never be tolerated or justified. Everyone - individuals, communities, governments, and international bodies - has a responsibility to put a stop to it and to redress the suffering it causes.

Change must come at international, national and local levels. It must be brought about by governments as well as private actors, by institutions as well as individuals. International treaties must be respected, laws must be adopted or abolished, support systems must be put in place, and above all, attitudes, prejudices and social beliefs that foster and reinforce violence against women must change.

Amnesty's Campaign

Amnesty's campaign to stop violence against women, launched in March 2004, is a contribution to the efforts of women's rights movements around the world. Amnesty collaborates with women's rights activists and groups who are working to expose and redress forms of violence. We investigate and expose acts of violence against women and demand that these violations are acknowledged, publicly condemned and redressed.

Our campaign is designed to mobilise both men and women to counter violence and to use the power and persuasion of the human rights framework to stop violence against women.

The UK section of Amnesty International has specific aims in this campaign:

• Campaigning for a fully-funded and properly resourced UK-wide strategy to end violence against women in all its forms. Find out more about the End Violence Against Women coalition
• To hold governments accountable for violence against women occurring within their territories, either by state actors or non-state actors, through local, national, and international mechanisms
• To challenge the attitudes that provoke and sustain the normalisation and acceptance of violence against women in the UK
• To profile the work of women human rights defenders at the forefront of the struggle to end violence against women

All of our campaigning to achieve the above objectives will be based around the themes of violence against women in the family and violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations.

Violence Against Women in the Family

The home is an extremely dangerous place for millions of women throughout the world. The Council of Europe has stated that domestic violence is the biggest cause of death and disability for all women aged 16 to 44.

Despite this, throughout the world, laws exist that relegate women to a subordinate status which leaves them vulnerable to violence from within their own family networks. These laws discriminate against women in marriage, access to divorce, child custody and inheritance.

Violence Against Women in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations

Women are increasingly vulnerable to violence in times of instability, conflict, and in post-conflict situations. The targeting of women is part of the 'culture of war' and gender-based violence is used as a military tactic.

Women are systematically raped and tortured during times of conflict to destabilise populations and destroy bonds within communities, advance ethnic cleansing, express hatred for the enemy, or supply combatants with sexual services.

The link between militarised societies and violence against women in the home is also explicit. Incidences of family violence increase in times of conflict and post-conflict. Demobilised soldiers often manifest their frustration with reintegration to society through domestic violence.

Additionally, the need to completely rebuild societies in post-conflict times often means that judicial and welfare systems are inadequate in providing prevention, protection and punishment for violence against women.