Noor Almaleki

Noor Almaleki was 20 years old and living in Pheonix when she and her friend, 43-year-old Amal Khalaf, were struck by a car driven by Noor’s father. While Amal survived, Noor later died, and her father, Faleh al-Maleki, was later convicted of killing his daughter.

The case of Noor Almaleki has drawn attention, most recently last weekend on CBS’s “48 Hours: Mystery” program, as a suspected case of a so-called “Honor Killing”—one committed here in the United States.

And yet, while the case of Noor Almaleki has made national headlines because it happened in Arizona, so-called “honor killings” happen around the world at an alarming rate, often with little press and no justice for the victim.

Women around the world suffer so-called “honor violence” at the hands of relatives, usually male, in an effort to reclaim family “honor.” If a woman or girl is accused or suspected of engaging in behavior that could taint her family’s status, she may face brutal retaliation from her relatives that often results in violent death.

So-called “honor” crime is rooted in a global culture of discrimination against women, and the deeply rooted belief that women are objects and commodities, not human beings entitled to dignity and rights equal to those of men. Women’s bodies, particularly, are considered the repositories of family honor, and under the control and responsibility of her family (especially her male relatives). And large sections of society share traditional conceptions of family honor and approve of “honor” killings to preserve that honor.

That’s the narrative that is used to justify these brutal attacks on women and girls, but here are the facts:

• The UN estimates that around 5,000 women and girls are murdered each year in so-called “honor killings” by members of their families
• “Honor” killings are widely reported in regions throughout the Middle East and South Asia, but these crimes against women occur in countries as varied as Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, and the United States.
• Like other forms of violence against women, “honor” violence against women may be considered a form of torture, whether enacted by the state or by an individual.
• While “honor” crime is committed predominantly against women and girls, “honor” crime is also on the rise against LGBT people, particularly gay men
• In many countries, the punishment for “honor” crimes are inadequate or non-existent—laws either do not recognize “honor” crime or have insufficient sentencing for such crime. And in countries where laws have been passed to curb “honor” crime (for example, in Jordan), such laws often go un-enforced.
• According to the Iranian and Kurdish Rights Organization, “Honor Killings are on the rise”, especially in Europe and the US.

Women in Lahore, Pakistan protest "honor" killings. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)

Make no mistake: there is no honor in violence against women, and no cultural, social, or religious belief is ever a valid reason to commit violence against women, or deprive anyone of their fundamental human rights.

The murder of women in the name of “honor” is a gender-specific form of discrimination and violence and should be regarded as part of a larger spectrum of violence against women, as well as a serious human rights violation. Violence against women in a global epidemic, and it effects women in every country, at every level of society.

The continued coverage of the case of Noor Almaleki reminds us that women across the world—including our own country—are at risk of such types of gender-specific violence. But so, too, should countless attacks on women’s rights that are part of a culture of discrimination against women.

Any attack on women’s human rights threatens to reduce women to objects or devalue them as less than fully human, and as such, aids and abets in a global culture in which such horrific violence, as happened to Noor and as happens to countless women, is not only possible, but is all too common.

Learn more about violence against women as a human rights issue and take action on behalf of women around the world.

© Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

The theme of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence — “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women”— is a theme that resonates across the globe.  It’s especially timely in the Middle East and North Africa where we’ve seen unprecedented challenges to military regimes and repressive governments.

Throughout the region, women have joined with men in fighting against increased militarism and in calling for governmental and social reform.  We’ve seen women in the headlines of protest and revolution from Bahrain to Yemen, to Egypt to Tunisia and beyond.

While women have fought hard with men to oust oppressive regimes in the region, they are still fighting for their full and equal rights as women. A full commitment by all countries to women’s full and equal rights, especially the erasure of gender violence, is essential for global peace and stability.

Women have the same human rights as men.  What’s more at this critical time of change, women can be valuable peacemakers in post-conflict and post-militarization reconstruction. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize, for example, was awarded to three women who have fought for peace and stability in their countries, and show us the critical role that women can—and should—play in peace and reconstruction, and in all political and civil life.

In Yemen, for example, women have taken an active role in the protests, but now with the news that President Saleh seems to have agreed to step down, the real test for women’s rights in Yemen begins, and women continue to fight to keep demands for their rights at the center of Yemen’s uprising.

In Bahrain, women have been a vital part of the protests there, yet women are still at particular risk: 33 women and girls who were arrested during pro-reform protests in September are feared to be at risk for torture.  Bahrain must live up to its treaty obligations under CEDAW and do more to combat discrimination and violence against women!

In Libya, women, like men, endured violence under Moammar Gadhafi, and also suffered gender-specific attacks and discrimination, so it’s no surprise that after women participated in the uprising that toppled the Gadhafi regime, they now rightly want a larger role in the new government.  While there are certainly many challenges facing the new Libya, those constructing Libya’s future must take measures that ensure the protection of and respect for the rights of women and girls, particularly as they relate to the Constitution, the electoral system, the police and the judiciary.

In Egypt, many were rightly outraged to hear about the forced “virginity tests” of some female protestors, and yet few know about the degree to which women’s rights are daily violated in Egypt.  In Egypt, women faced discrimination, violence, and sexual harassment on a daily basis under Mubarak, and yet, in a post-Mubarak Egypt, these conditions have not changed for women.  A recent report by Amnesty details how hopes raised for women’s rights in Egypt have not been fulfilled – and women are still being largely excluded from taking part in shaping their country’s future. It is crucial that the experiences, needs, and views of women are integral to the process of change.

The United States has put a spotlight on women’s human rights in the Middle East and North Africa in the recent Senate hearing on “Women and the Arab Spring.”  Yet, the US’ words of support to women across the world ring hollow when the US is one of only six countries (including Iran and Sudan) to not have ratified the Women’s Rights Treaty (CEDAW).

Women have the right to peace and freedom from violence.  Join us during these 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence to find out more about how you can support the efforts of those in the Middle East and North Africa working for women’s human rights!

Every day around the world, women challenge the status quo of poverty, exploitation, impunity, and war; they question oppressive customs and harmful traditions; they fight tirelessly for human rights.

And while they may not label themselves as women human rights defenders, their beliefs and activism often subject them to marginalization, prejudice, violence, and threats to their safety and wellbeing.

They are sidelined, abducted, made to “disappear,” and killed as a consequence of their work. They face gender-specific repercussions and risks, such as sexual harassment and rape, often with no recourse for personal justice.  Their aggressors may be state actors, police, military, politicians, corporations, their community, and even family members.

Today, we mark the 6th annual International Day for Women Human Rights Defenders as part of 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence.  This year the Nobel Peace Prize committee recognized three women from Liberia and Yemen for their critical contributions to peace-making and reform. Yet within days, dozens of women were reportedly injured in Yemen’s second-largest city after government supporters attacked an anti-government rally celebrating the Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize recipient Tawakkol Karman.

Women activists from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, and Zimbabwe continue to forge progress at grave risk to their own lives and that of their loved ones:

• Ten years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taliban regime women candidates, politicians and human rights defenders have told Amnesty International about being increasingly targeted, intimidated, threatened and attacked. Many prominent Afghan women have been killed.

• Russian human rights defender, Natalia Estemirova, was abducted and shot point blank in 2009 in Grozny, Chechnya.  Natalia worked with the Memorial Human Rights Centre in the North Caucasus to record eyewitness accounts of mass killings, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings committed in Chechnya.  Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov threatened her and her daughter after she voiced concerns on Russian TV about the erosion of women’s rights in post-conflict Chechnya, including about women being forced by decree to veil their heads.

• Two brave Indigenous women in Mexico who for 9 nine years have taken on the military and the authorities to demand justice after they were raped by soldiers in 2002. Inés Fernández and Valentina Rosendo reported the assault and pursued their cases in national and international courts, fighting off intimidation and death threats to them and their families. To date, authorities have undertaken no substantive investigation into the assaults, and no one has been brought to account for the crimes.  Send a letter of solidarity to the women and urge Mexican authorities to end impunity for rape.

• Women defenders often are commonly accused of importing “foreign” or “Western” values. Recent reports of Egyptian women protesters forced to take “virginity tests” testify to the power of women’s subversion of accepted norms. Women who take on predominantly- or traditionally male bastions, such as the military, are dismissed as naïve, irrelevant, or are sexualized away.  Jewish Israeli women protesting the occupation of Palestinian lands have been heckled “whores” and “traitors.”  Afghan women managing domestic violence shelters have been accused of running prostitution rings.  Equal rights activists, especially those focused on health, reproductive and sexual rights, are routinely targeted – and at times tortured or murdered – for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

This must end. Those who promote human rights must be enabled and empowered to carry out their work. Their work benefits as all by advancing the conditions of all of humanity.

Photo from “Why Women? Effective engagement for small arms control”; IANSA Women’s Network, 2011

By Alice Dahle, Women’s Human Rights Coordination Group

Today marks the beginning of the annual international 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign. Since 1991, over 3,700 organizations in at least 164 countries have participated in the campaign, which runs from November 25, the International Day Against Violence Against Women, through December 10, International Human Rights Day, to emphasize the connection between violence against women and the violation of women’s human rights.

The theme of the 2011 campaign is: From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women! 

Amnesty International will be posting a series of four blogs outlining some broad issues, linked to daily blogs on the Women’s Human Rights Coordination Group’s Facebook page illustrating the intersection of violence against women and militarism in 16 countries around the world.  Visit our homepage frequently to take daily action!

Today’s blog focuses on small arms and violence against women.  Although the vast majority of those who make, sell, buy, own and use guns are men, large numbers of women and girls are affected directly and indirectly by armed violence in their homes, in their communities and during and after armed conflict.

Women around the world are at greatest risk of gun violence, not on the streets or in combat zones, but in their own homes. More than 75% of the nearly 900 million small arms in the world are owned by private individuals – mostly men – and kept in their homes. A gun in a home is much more likely to be used to intimidate or injure a family member than to be used against an intruder.  Family killings are the only type of homicide where women outnumber men as victims.  Guns are the weapons of choice in domestic violence, and when a woman is killed in her home, her partner or a male relative is most likely to be the murderer.  According to research in the USA, just having a gun in the house increases the risk of someone in the home being murdered by 41%, but for women in particular, the risk is nearly tripled with an increase of 272%.

Women also encounter gun violence in the community outside their homes at the hands of police, immigration and security officers, border guards, military and paramilitary personnel and criminal gangs.  Both security officials and armed criminals can use their guns to threaten, intimidate, rape or kill women and girls, especially in areas where law enforcement officers are poorly trained and equipped, where those responsible for gun violence are not brought to justice, and where there is a widespread lack of respect for the human rights of women.  When armed gangs are active in a community, women may fear going to work, collecting water or firewood and going about their daily lives.  In places where the criminal justice system is weak, corrupt, or simply does not take violence against women seriously, women are often afraid to even report violent abuse for fear of shaming their families or retribution from the perpetrators.

Because of easy access to small arms of all kinds, modern conflicts frequently target civilians for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and mass rape as a weapon of war.  As Annie Matundu Mbambi of the Democratic Republic of Congo said in a recent interview, “A guy with a machete in a village can rape one woman.  Two guys with a machine gun can rape the whole village.”  Such violent conflict forces women to flee, leaving their homes, livelihoods and communities behind.  Women are forced to become heads of their households caring for their children, the elderly and those with disabilities single handedly when their male relatives are involved in fighting, or when they are detained, injured or killed.  Those who become war widows may lose their land, family support, and status in the community.

Even when armed conflict is officially over, the brutalizing effects of war do not end.  When combatants return to their communities, many bring the trauma and violence of the fighting into their homes.  If men bring their weapons home with them, the women and girls who live with them are at high risk for threatening and violent treatment.

To reduce the availability of guns used to commit violence against women around the world, the Arms Trade Treaty currently under negotiation at the United Nations should require countries to prevent any international transfer of conventional arms when there is a substantial risk the arms are likely to be used to commit serious violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law. Such regulations could help ensure that human rights offenders— particularly, those who use small arms to commit egregious acts of violence against women—do not get their hands on the instruments of violence and repression. As the negotiations move forward, we must continue to hold governments responsible for protecting their citizens and upholding the human rights of women who live within their borders.

A woman in Kendugudha village, Vedanta alumina refinery can be seen in the distance, Orissa, India, March 2009. ©Amnesty International

By: James Mutti, India Country Specialist, Amnesty USA

Major industrial development projects frequently promise bountiful improvements to people’s lives – reliable electricity, better jobs, plentiful irrigation, more money, color TVs, cars, all the wonders of modernity! Sometimes these materialize, but when they do it is often at the expense of people who are already poor and marginalized. Worse, the women in these affected communities typically feel the negative affects most of all.

As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, India is home to its fair share of major economic development projects – mines, power plants, massive refineries, dams, and expanded transport infrastructure. One of the biggest such projects underway in India today is a bauxite ore mine in Orissa’s Niyamgiri Hills and a nearby alumina refinery, both operated by British mining company Vedanta. The existing refinery threatens the lives and livelihoods of mostly impoverished and marginalized Dalit (untouchable) and Adivasi (indigenous) villagers, including the 8,000 member Dongria Kondh Adivasi group who hold the Niyamgiri Hills sacred.  Yet, in spite of this, Vedanta is petitioning to expand its refinery six-fold! Thankfully, the Indian government has denied Vedanta’s initial request, but the company is appealing the decision.

Beyond the environmental degradation and trampling of locals’ rights that all residents face, the women of these communities are subject to even more threats. And, the Indian government and Vedanta have failed to consider in assessments of the project. What are these threats? Massive projects such as Vedanta’s inevitably require land to be acquired, which displaces local residents. Holding legal titles to land in rural areas populated by Adivasi populations is rare. It is even rarer for women to hold any legal title to land. As a result, women do not benefit from resettlement packages which require proof of land ownership to be compensated, and they lose access to privately or commonly owned lands that are often crucial to their economic and social status, health and security. Compensatory payment nearly always goes to men, increasing women’s social marginalization and economic dependence. This disempowerment within their own communities is usually accompanied by an influx of male workers, which has been linked to increased crime and violence against women. Prostitution, trafficking, sexual harassment and the resulting curtailing of women’s public movement have all been documented at Vedanta’s facilities in Orissa.

It is past time for the Indian government to ensure that women’s rights and safety are not ignored when development projects are being considered and built. Act now to demand that impact assessments specifically address women’s rights and to request that all clearances and licenses for Vedanta’s Niyamgiri mine and Lanjigarh refinery be suspended until all human rights concerns, including women’s, are addressed.  India must ensure that women’s rights are not forgotten!

An Iraqi woman requests more rice from a window of a soup kitchen used to feed Iraqis in need. An estimated 23% of Iraqis live below the poverty line. © Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Every year, more than 6 million children die from malnutrition.  Every day, more than 800 million people go to bed hungry.  Every minute, a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth.  All of these tragedies have one thing in common: poverty.  Poverty is a human rights issue, one that affects people in every nation across the globe.

Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a day that started in 1993 by the UN “to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries.”  Soon thereafter, at the Millennium Summit in 2000, leaders from around the globe laid out a specific goal: cutting the number of people living in extreme poverty, those whose income is less than one dollar a day, in half by 2015. Half by 2015. And, though substantial progress has been made in many countries, not surprisingly, we are not on track to meet this goal.

As the world reflects back on what has been achieved, how much farther we still have to go, and how we can get there, we must consider how closely interwoven poverty is with the lives of women around the world. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by poverty, representing 70% of the world’s poor.  And, women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn only 10 percent of the income and own just 1 percent of the property.

The reason for this global disparity is obvious: limited access to education, property, and voting rights; cultural recognition of self-determination; and a litany of other interconnected abuses against women all contribute to a deck stacked solidly against women’s economic gains.  And in places in the world where women’s human rights and equality are not assured, we see much higher poverty rates for women as compared to men.

The solutions lie in action–action from all of us.  The theme of this year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is “Working Together Out of Poverty,” and it has never been more true that we must work together to solve this global problem.

Each of us brings strength to this fight. For developed countries, it may come in the form of aid and diplomacy highlighting the role women can play in reversing poverty. For developing countries, it may come in recognizing the power of investment in girls. For Amnesty International and human rights advocates, it is powerful advocacy to address disparities in the rights of women that can have a dramatic impact on women’s ability to pull themselves out of poverty.

And, crucially, there is a role for each of us to play - wherever we are in the world. The link between women’s rights and poverty is clear as day in the statistics and stories of success. But, it is all too murky in the collective global consciousness. So, tell a friend. Help us shine a light on the need to confront poverty with direct attention to women’s rights around the world.

Bosnian women bury their sons and husbands at Srebrenica, site of the worst massacre on European soil since World War II. Photo by Kate Holt.

Amnesty’s Women’s Human Rights Coordination Group member Alisa Roadcup was fortunate to sit down with Pamela Hogan, Co-Creator of Women, War & Peace, a bold new five-part PBS television series challenging the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain.  The first part of the documentary airs Tuesday, October 11, on PBS.

1. Tell me about your initial idea for this project.  Why “Women, War and Peace” and why now?

It’s hard to remember back that far!  My partners Abigail Disney, Gini Reticker and I had a fateful lunch at which we realized we’d all been noticing the same trend in war reporting: a focus on the men and the guns, and a dearth of stories about the women and families who are disproportionately targeted in today’s conflict zones—but seldom covered in news reports. We’d all individually witnessed this blind spot in the coverage of conflict, and we agreed that the gap between what’s reported and what’s occurring on the ground was enormous. Women, War & Peace was born!

 2. Why do you think documentary film, specifically, can serve as a powerful medium to ignite social change? 

Documentary film has the power to bring the work of individuals to life in a way that policy reports and court documents, and even the printed word, doesn’t have.  One of the lead funders of Women, War & Peace said it so well: “We’ve been writing reports on these issues for years but in your films the women jump off the screen and people feel an emotional connection and really get the urgency.” Documentary storytelling is a visceral medium, and when the lights go up audiences often feel a call to action.

3. Tell me about a portrayal of women in war captured in “Women, War and Peace” that somehow plays against type or was unconventional.

So often women living in war zones are portrayed as victims.   Big mistake.

In The War We Are Living, two Colombian women – Clemencia Carabali and Francia Marquez – brave constant death threats to prevent their communities from being forced off of the gold-rich lands their ancestors have lived on for generations.  In Peace Unveiled, Afghan women are excluded from the international conference where President Karzai first suggests negotiating with the Taliban – so they crash the event anyway.  In Pray the Devil Back to Hell, ordinary Liberian women who are sick and tired of 14 years of war stand up to President Charles Taylor and the warlords.  In I Came to Testify, sixteen women from a village in Bosnia take the witness stand in the first trial ever to focus exclusively on sexual violence in wartime – and the landmark judgment establishes wartime rape and sexual slavery as a crime against humanity.

All of these women are taking personal risks, risks that jeopardize not only themselves but also their children and extended families.  All of them make me ask myself, could I summon the courage to make that choice if I were in their place? Given the stereotype that women targeted by war are victims; they most certainly break the mold.  These women are revolutionaries!

4. As human rights activists, what can we do to spread the message that violence against women in conflict has to end? 

What a great question.  That is exactly what we are asking people to do: spread the message. I think human rights activists and advocates are crucial members of the Women, War & Peace audience. As broadcast journalists, one of our responsibilities is to investigate and uncover stories that may otherwise go unnoticed and to seek to give them a national and global platform through film and television and the web. The human rights activist community can broaden that platform, ensuring that the world hears these stories not only on their televisions and in their living rooms—not only on PBS—but also from the mouths of those working in the field and on the ground. One first step in ending violence against women is turning the world’s eye on this violence–growing the number of people who can bear witness to instances in which rape, attack, intimidation, and assassination of women is used as a deliberate tactic of war. The activist community can help us accomplish that.

 5. What does the public need to know about rape as a weapon of war in conflict?  What broader issues of structural violence need to come to light in order for the world to be safer for women?

The fact that rape is increasingly used as a weapon of war in conflict is something that people are starting to understand.  The ongoing horrific extent of rape in the Congo conflict alone has brought this to the forefront of public awareness.  The gaping challenge is that serious consequences for wartime rape have not yet been established. Our film, I Came to Testify, tells the story of a precedent-setting case in an international court of law.  But the vast majority of prosecution for wartime rapes falls to national courts, which have lagged far behind.  Most rapists in war zones walk free.

In 2009 the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution [UNSCR 1888] mandating peacekeeping missions to protect women and girls from sexual violence in armed conflict, and Margot Wallstrom was named to the new post of Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict last year.  There is pressure on the U.N. to go further, and to even consider imposing sanctions on countries where violence against women is used as a weapon of war.  So far that has not happened but many believe it could put teeth in the enforcement of UNSCR 1888.

6. Why should men care about Women, War and Peace?

Of course men should care. And many do. Men and women leading side-by-side in reconciliation and rebuilding is the only way to create a whole peace. But I couldn’t possibly answer this question better than Matt Damon, who narrated I Came to Testify.

7. You directed Episode 1: “I Came To Testify” the story of how a group of 16 women imprisoned by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foca broke history’s great silence – and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law.  Of all the varying geographic regions covered in this documentary, why did you choose to produce the Bosnia story?  Did you have a personal connection to the country or the conflict?

I’ve always been intrigued by law and seriously considered becoming a lawyer at one point.  International criminal courts are in their infancy, so it’s critical that we watch them closely and learn from their successes and their failures.  That said, what really pulled me into producing this film was something I saw in a report that fell on my desk one morning.  It was the first-ever study, years in the making, of the Bosnian women who had witnessed at the Hague Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  Halfway through the document I learned that in the first weeks of the war in Bosnia in the 1990s the entire town of Foca basically became a crime scene.  Once a place where Bosniaks (Muslims) and Serbs (Christians) lived harmoniously, during the war Bosniak women were imprisoned by Serb soldiers for months on end in public buildings like sports halls and high schools, and subjected to torture and mass rape.  According to this report, when the Hague Tribunal was established to bring war criminals to justice, an unusual partnership developed between the female prosecutors and investigators assigned to the Foca case and the women survivors of that horrific experience.  I was fascinated to learn more, and the more I learned the more convinced I was that it was an important story that needed to be told.

8. You’ve mentioned that Nicholas Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn have claimed that Women’s Rights are this century’s Civil Rights movement.  Do you think this is true?  If so, what does this mean for the next generation? 


I do, and this idea was profoundly affirmed this week when the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 was awarded to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, to Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, and to pro-democracy campaigner Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.

The Nobel committee’s statement that “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society” is in perfect synchronicity with the gauntlet Kristof and WuDunn have thrown down, and touches the very heart of Women, War & Peace.

Leymah Gbowee’s leadership has been a central inspiration for Women, War & Peace and she is featured in our films “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” and “War Redefined.”

9.  If there were one take-away you’d like everyone to come away with, what would it be?

Our first hope is that Women, War & Peace starts a conversation.  After millennia of disproportionate attention paid to men in conflicts we know that these five films spotlighting women’s experiences in war and peace are just a beginning.  We hope that it is the trigger for a whole new dialogue and for more films, articles, and stories that look at conflict through women’s eyes. In the long run, our greatest hope is that the series will actually change policy and legislation and inspire the kind of successes embodied by Nobel Laureates Gbowee and Johnson Sirleaf and Karman.

Countries around the world that strictly deny women’s access to abortion, including when such access could save their lives and health, also tend to have the highest rates of maternal mortality.

Most Latin American countries criminalize abortions, forcing girls and women to resort to unsafe, clandestine abortions.  According to the World Health Organization, “Death due to complications of abortion is not uncommon, and is one of the principal causes of maternal mortality” and of an estimated 300,000 hospitalizations.

Globally, unsafe abortion – defined by the World Health Organization as termination of a pregnancy by providers lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that does not meet minimal medical standards – claims the lives of more than 47,000 women annually.  In Latin America, unsafe abortions account for 12%, or the fourth most common reason, of what would otherwise be preventable maternal deaths.

September 28th marks the 21st anniversary of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Campaign for the Decriminalization of Abortion aimed to bring human rights and health advocates together to address the public health and human toll of unsafe abortion in the region.

Since then, the region has seen some progress.  In May 2006 Colombia’s constitutional court decided that banning abortion violates the fundamental human rights of women.  The court ordered that the procedure be available to girls and women who suffered rape or incest, in instances where the pregnancy poses a threat to their health or life, and when fetal malformations make it incompatible with life outside the womb.

Yet, in 2008, Nicaragua imposed a total criminal ban on the potentially life-saving procedure.  Since the ban came into effect, more women have died due to unsafe abortion and obstetric complications.  And in 2009, the Dominican Republic passed a constitutional amendment that likewise bans abortion in all cases.  Only 3% of the world’s countries and a handful of Latin American countries impose such absolute abortion bans.

The lives, health and wellbeing of women across Latin America are threatened by these policies.  Last year Amnesty International called on Nicaragua to provide cancer treatment to a pregnant woman and sole caregiver of her 10-year old daughter who was denied life-saving treatment because of a law that bans abortion in all circumstances.   The Nicaraguan authorities prevented doctors from providing life-saving cancer treatment to the 27-year old women because medical staff could face prosecution if they cause harm to the fetus during her treatment, even if the harm is caused unintentionally.

According to Amnesty International’s report, The Total Abortion Ban in Nicaragua, the complete ban on abortions is a serious obstacle to best practice decision-making by health care providers when dealing with obstetric complications. The law also prevents victims of violence to terminate pregnancies that resulted from rape and incest, which overwhelmingly affect girls under 17 who make up two thirds of rapes reported between 1998 and 2008 and those under 14 who account for nearly half of these cases.

Marta Solay Gonzalez, the face of the Colombian court challenge, was diagnosed with uterine cancer during the early stages of her pregnancy.  Treating her fast-spreading cancer would have saved her life but would terminate the pregnancy. No doctor dared risk prosecution to help her.  By the time the court issued its watershed decision her cancer has metastasized and she died within a year.

Even after the court decision in Colombia, women face obstacles in accessing the procedure when necessary.  The mother of a 14-year old Colombian girl who was raped and impregnated had to fight in court to get her daughter access to a termination.

The Inter-American Court on Human Rights, along with other international human rights bodies, have recognized girls’ and women’s human right to therapeutic abortions.  Amnesty International calls for the repeal of all laws that criminalize or provide for the imprisonment of women and girls who have sought or had an abortion.  Latin American women must be guaranteed basic rights to health, life, dignity and non-discrimination, and not be subject to life threatening and abusive state policies.

You can learn more about sexual and reproductive rights as part of the broader context of all human rights, as well as other issues of women’s human rights.

Jessica Lenahan has become an activist for ending violence against women © Private

In June of 1999, Jessica Lenahan lost her three daughters, aged 7, 8, and 10.  On one terrible day in June, Jessica learned her three daughters were with her estranged husband, against whom she had a court-issued protection order.

Yet, on each of the eight times Jessica contacted the Castle Rock, Colorado Police Department, the police response ranged from uncoordinated to belittling.  One officer even chided her for worrying as the girls were with their father, despite the man’s known history of emotional instability and abuse. No help was sent to secure her children, and they were later found dead in their father’s truck.

This was part of a systematic failure to protect Jessica and her children from domestic violence or the threat of violence, and it cost three little girls their lives.

Yet Jessica may finally have gotten some justice.  In its first decision on a women’s rights case against the United States, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) concluded that the US violated both Jessica’s rights to judicial protection and to be free from violence and non-discrimination and her three young daughters’ right to life.

As this case and the decision illustrate, there is no excuse for failures to promptly and effectively enforce protection orders, especially after repeated pleas to the police.

In its decision, the IACHR reaffirmed that the state has a duty to address violence against women and girls, a position long-argued by Amnesty International.

Domestic Violence is a violation of a woman’s rights to physical integrity, liberty, and all too often, her right to life itself.  What’s more, domestic violence can threaten the rights and lives of children in the home as well.

The US government should do more to address its systematic failure to protect women and children from domestic violence, in line with its national and international human rights obligations.

Join us in calling on the US Government to fulfill its obligations to protect women and children from domestic violence.

Friday, August 26 marks the 91^st anniversary of the vote for women in the US.  On August 26, 1920,  Congress passed the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution after a 72-year campaign which began in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

The struggle for American women’s right to vote was long, difficult, and at times, divisive.  The Suffrage movement split after the Civil War over whether to support adoption of the 15^th Amendment, which gave black men the right to vote, or to insist that women be included before they would endorse it.  One faction insisted on universal voting rights legislation at the federal level, while others approached the issue state by state.

Few of the original suffragists lived to see the successful results of the work they started.  As a new generation of suffragists joined the movement, they used more active tactics, including mass marches and hunger strikes.  As a result, they were arrested and sent to prison, where they were chained, beaten and force-fed.  In 1971, Rep. Bella Abzug introduced a proposal to commemorate their struggle each year on August 26 as Women’s Equality Day.

Although American women now have the right to vote in all public elections, the struggle for equal rights for women in our country is not over. There is still no Equal Rights Amendment in the US Constitution, and one of our Supreme Court justices, Antonin Scalia, has stated that the protection from discrimination granted by the 14^th Amendment does not apply to women, but only to discrimination on the basis of race.

In addition, the US is one of only seven countries in the world that has not yet ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).  One hundred eighty-seven countries have now ratified this international bill of rights for women, leaving the US in the company of Iran, Somalia, Sudan and three island countries in the South Pacific that have not yet done so.  The United States is the only industrial and the only Western Hemisphere country that has not ratified CEDAW.

As we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, we still have work to do!  We should honor those who won our right to vote by finishing the work they started.  We need to urge our Senators to ratify CEDAW and get on with the business of writing an Equal Rights Amendment into our Constitution.  By guaranteeing full citizenship and freedom from discrimination for American women and girls, the United States would renew its proud tradition of promoting and protecting human rights around the world.