Jenni Williams-Women of Zimbabwe Arise

Yesterday, the activists of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) took to the streets in Bulawayo for the 10th consecutive commemoration of Valentine’s Day. Yes, I know it’s a week early; but in Zimbabwe, when you’re trying to keep the riot police from guessing when your peaceful protests will occur, that’s what you have to do. Unfortunately, their plan didn’t work and co-founder Jenni Williams, along with twelve other people including a pregnant woman and minor, were arrested.

WOZA and MOZA (Men of Zimbabwe Arise) use the occasion of Valentine’s Day to confront governmental policies that violate civil and human rights in Zimbabwe and educate their fellow citizens about issues and what can be done. Frequently, WOZA is met with brutal violence at the hands of the riot police. Jenni has been arrested nearly 50 times.

Jenni and those arrested with her spent last night outside in the rain, detained in the police yard rather than a holding cell. It’s arguable, however, based on prison conditions in Zimbabwe, which option might have been preferred. But they are cold, coughing and likely to be kept in the same conditions tonight.

The use of force and intimidation against human and civil rights activists in Zimbabwe must stop. Urge Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa, to cease using the legal system in Zimbabwe as a weapon. Remind him this Valentine’s Day the power of love is greater than the love of power.

By Lisa Schechtman, Amnesty USA’s Women’s Human Rights Coordination Group

Before you keep reading, let’s be clear: this blog is about the universal human right to the highest attainable standard of health, the package of services it takes to be well—and the ability to afford it.  It’s also about the implications of the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to stop providing grants to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for breast cancer screening.  Because too often, women’s health falls victim to agendas that prevent women from exercising their human rights.  It’s about the big picture.

According to Planned Parenthood, the vast majority of its services are the provision of information and education about health, well-being and sexuality; prevention of and response to gender-based violence; prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; and family planning counseling and supplies. These services are provided to both men and women, of all ages, of all income levels. They are part of basic health care.

It was a Planned Parenthood clinic that helped diagnose my auto-immune disease after running standard blood work during a regular check-up more than ten years ago. Yes, I am among the one in five American women who has depended on a Planned Parenthood clinic. Why? Because I got good, comprehensive care—and I could afford it. I got the same annual exam I get now at a more expensive private practice paid for by my health insurance. This is what the right to the highest attainable standard of health means: Equal care for all.

Across the country, Planned Parenthood’s 800 clinics are available to anyone who needs them, offering non-discriminatory, affordable access to quality, comprehensive care. Planned Parenthood indicates that more than 75% of its patients in the U.S. live on incomes the equivalent of $33,000 a year for a family of four, or less. For them, Planned Parenthood or an equivalent clinic may be their only choice.

The human right to health is universal, basic, and often a matter of life and death. But for many people in this country and around the world, it is a luxury. Planned Parenthood and thousands of other community-based clinics across the country seek to treat all people equally, and ensure the highest attainable standard of health for everyone who comes to them for care. Breast cancer screenings are part of comprehensive health care for all women. A significant funding cut, regardless of the source or the service it paid for, threatens the big picture.

Amnesty International’s Demand Dignity Campaign focuses on violations of human rights that stem from poverty. All too often, one of these is a violation of the right to health. So, as an organization that fights to protect all rights for all people everywhere, we stand with Planned Parenthood—not because of any one service they provide, but because of all of them.

To learn more about the Demand Dignity Campaign, find us on Facebook. And, if you’d like to stay in touch with us about our Women’s Human Rights Work, join our network, too.

Norma Cruz

Earlier this week, we started an exciting new faxjam action – calling on our members and Facebook and Twitter supporters around the world to send a fax to the Attorney General of Guatemala on behalf of human rights defender Norma Cruz.

Last night we spoke to Norma, the leader of the women’s rights organization Fundación Sobrevivientes, who has received repeated death threats because of her work supporting victims of violence against women and calling for those responsible to be prosecuted.

And the news is good – the authorities are really taking notice.

Norma told us that on Tuesday (the day after we started jamming faxes), the Presidential Commission on Human Rights phoned her to check on her security situation. They said that they were checking because they had heard about the Amnesty International campaign – the campaign that you have all been a part of.

Norma also feels the campaign will play a role in guaranteeing that the Guatemalan authorities continue to provide security to her, her family, and other staff at the Fundación Sobrevivientes.

She wanted us to share her response and message of thanks with all of you:

“I want to give my thanks to each and every member of Amnesty International, on my behalf, on behalf of my team, and on behalf of every woman who has survived violence, on behalf of all the families that have lost a daughter, a wife, a sister. I hope that with this action, my own safety can be guaranteed, but also the protection of all girls that have been victims of violence.

In difficult times for the Fundación Sobrevivientes, this campaign encourages us, strengthens us and reminds us that we are not alone.

To support our struggle is to support the struggle of many women in Guatemala and across the world“

So far we haven’t had any news from the Attorney General’s office in terms of investigations into the threats Norma has received, but we know that our calls for Norma to be able to carry out her work free from intimidation, threats and attacks have been heard by the Guatemalan authorities.

We will continue calling on the authorities to ensure that threats against Norma are investigated, and that she can carry on with her work to support women and girls that have suffered violence and the families of those who have been brutally murdered, so that Norma can always make her call for justice heard.

You can still take action for Norma and the Fundación Sobrevivientes – even though the faxes are now jammed, we will still send all of your messages to the Attorney General by postal mail.

Guatemalan human rights defender Norma Cruz is the director of Fundación Sobrevivientes (c) Amnesty International

Norma Cruz is a Guatemalan human rights defender who has been repeatedly threatened with death because of her work documenting cases of violence against women and fighting for justice. Some of her relatives have even suffered threats and attacks because of her work.

It’s time someone defended Norma.  Through our new Faxjam campaign you can help stand up for Norma and other activists in Guatemala who face constant danger.

Norma Cruz leads an organization called ‘Survivors Foundation’ in Guatemala City that documents violence against women, including the thousands of rapes and killings of women.  Most of the threats that Norma has received have been related to their legal assistance in the case of a girl who was raped in 2004.

Amnesty has been campaigning on Norma’s behalf for years which has helped lead to greater media attention and forced the government of Guatemala to give her more protection. This resulted in the conviction of one of the people who threatened her in 2008. The Guatemala Public prosecutor’s office, however, has not reported any advances in the investigation into death threats received since 2010. Because of the positive development last time, we think now is the moment to step up our campaign.

Every year in Guatemala, hundreds of people are imprisoned, or face intimidation and violence solely for peacefully expressing their beliefs or defending the rights of other people. According to the Human Rights Defenders Protection Unit (UDEFEGUA), 2011 was the most violent year for human rights defenders, with a 33% increase over 2010 in the number of attacks or threats against rights defenders.

Amnesty activists and the public from all over the world will be taking part in this faxjam campaign. You might be wondering, Why fax? In Guatemala, since fax is still very much used as a tool of communication, sending a huge number of physical faxes will have a greater impact on the Guatemalan Attorney General’s offices than receiving emails. But just in case they try to shut us down, we’ve found several different fax numbers. If all the faxes get switched off, we will collect the names of those taking action and will send these as a petition to the Attorney General in Guatemala.

Stand with Norma Cruz and other brave human rights defenders who risk their lives daily to document violations and protect those in need and take action!

Women protestors in Cairo. Photo by Sarah Carr

By now, almost everyone has heard the about the 18 women protestors in Egypt’s Tahrir Square who this past spring were detained, beaten, given electric shocks, strip searched and forced to submit to “virginity tests.”

But courageous action by two Egyptian women has led to a landmark ruling on these “tests” by an Egyptian court.

In July 2011 Samira Ibrahim and Maha Mohamed stood up for their rights and filed a case before the Egyptian administrative court to end “virginity tests” against female detainees.  Ibrahim was subjected to this abuse when she was arrested by the military for her participation in the March 9, 2011, protests that rocked the country.  Mohamed joined the case on the basis that as a protester, she feared she might be subjected to the same abuse if arrested by the military.

The brave actions of these two women human rights defenders led to a victory for Egyptian women and for human rights everywhere when the court ruled last month that the forced “virginity tests” women were subjected to in March were illegal, and ordered that they be stopped.

Scientifically spurious, “virginity tests” are a violation of women’s human rights and are a form of torture when women are forced or coerced to submit to this degrading procedure.

In its ruling, the Egyptian court referenced the human rights guaranteed in the Egyptian Constitutional Declaration of 2011 as well as Egypt’s obligation under international law to refrain from torture and ill-treatment as outlined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

It’s worth noting that Amnesty International’s work provided valuable evidence for the court’s decision.  The court ruling cited the meeting between Amnesty International’s Secretary General Salil Shetty and Major general Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) during which Major General al-Sisi defended the “virginity tests” as a means to protect the army against possible allegations of rape, but agreed that such procedures would not be carried out again. According to The New York Times, “The court found that protecting against potential charges of rape was no justification for violating women’s bodies.”

This decision is a powerful win for human rights.  First, the court ruled that the tests must be stopped immediately, and “virginity tests” will now be considered illegal if carried out on military detention premises.  Second, since the forced “virginity tests” were ruled illegal by the court; the victims are eligible for compensation.  Although no compensation claims have been filed thus far, this avenue to obtain reparation is now open.  Finally, with this decision, a civilian court has ordered the halting of a practice by the military; an encouraging step by a civilian court to exercise oversight of, and challenge abuses by, the military.

Although this ruling is a major victory for women activists in Egypt, the struggle to fully realize women’s human rights continues.  The military continues to avoid taking full responsibility for its actions and has not yet referred any other officer to trial in connection with the beating and torture of the group that was arrested on March 9^th. The prosecution of the doctor who carried out the “tests” is ongoing but his charges have already been reduced.  And “virginity tests” under any circumstances have not been outlawed; only those taking place on “military detention premises.”

More broadly, the expectations of gender equality created by the uprising have yet to be realized and women protestors continue to be targeted.  In December, the Egyptian military attacked female protesters during peaceful demonstrations. Seventeen people died in the assaults, most of them reportedly from gunfire.  The women activists discussed with Amnesty International their brutal treatment by security forces, including beatings and threats of sexual abuse.

Although greater political participation has been promised, women have been marginalized.  No women were allowed to be a part of the constitutional reform committee and, with only one female cabinet member, they have received little representation in the new government.  To build a truly free society in Egypt, women must be equal partners in the establishment of an accountable, participatory government with their issues and ideas given equal consideration.

Help support the women of Egypt and women globally by visiting our women’s human rights page to get involved.

Demonstrators' resilience in 2011 has changed the regional context for human rights © AP Photo / Tarek Fawzy

This week, we  approach the first major anniversary of the popular uprisings that began to sweep through the Middle East and North Africa last year. On January 14, 2011, Tunisia’s long time president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, fled the country to Saudi Arabia. Since December Ben Ali has been on trial – in absentia – along with about 40 other senior officials, for the killing of protesters.

The following weeks will be marked by the anniversaries of uprisings and the resignations of repressive dictators who were ultimately swept away by “a power governments cannot suppress” (transporting a Howard Zinn term to a different region).

No matter what repressive politicians would like you to believe (yes, I am especially referring to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad here) the uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa are not driven by foreign intervention, but by one of the most impressive grassroots movements of my lifetime. Denying this fact would not only be a mischaracterization of the protests, but would also be an insult to the many protesters who are marching relentlessly through the capitals and towns of the region in pursuit of their basic human rights.

Reflecting on this tumultuous and inspiring year, I can only express my admiration for the hundreds of thousands of people across the region who are risking their lives for human rights and dignity. Being a human rights campaigner myself, I am humbled in the presence of the masses of people that organizers were able to mobilize—often led by tech-savvy young people and women.

The role of women in the uprising should be undisputed, and the October awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a leading pro-reform activist from Yemen, Tawakkol Karman, is the first recognition of the central role women have played in the uprisings in the last year. Whether in Bahrain, Syria, Iraq or Egypt, women have been at the heart of demonstrations and activism, and have not been exempt from some of the worst violence.

Throughout the last year, staff and activists at Amnesty International have sought to support the mass uprising as best as we could, trying to mobilize as much as possible to advocate for human rights protection for the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters, demand accountability and to simply show our solidarity. Rest assured that we’ll continue to stand with you until all rights for all people across the region are fully realized.

A challenging way forward
It will take a while to get to this point, but I am optimistic that we’ll get there—despite the many challenges ahead. Many of the ongoing issues and remaining human rights challenges have been identified in the new Amnesty International report, Year of Rebellion: State of Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa. The report concludes that despite the great optimism over the toppling of brutal regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, fundamental reforms to prevent continuing repression and abuses remain unfulfilled, with governments failing to address the scale of change demanded by the protest movements.

In Egypt for example, the abuses committed today by Egypt’s military rulers are in some aspects worse than those under Hosni Mubarak’s rule. I was shocked to learn that between October and December 2011 at least 84 people died due to the violent suppression of ongoing protests by the army and security forces. Torture in detention has continued, and more civilians have been tried before military courts in one year than during the 30 years of Mubarak’s rule. Women have been targeted for humiliating treatment in order to try to deter them from protesting. In December the offices of a number of Egyptian and international NGOs were raided by security forces in an apparent attempt to silence critics of the authorities.

Inconsistent International Response
The international community failed impressively to put human rights first in its response to the popular uprisings. Although the international community had used the protection of human rights as a reason for military intervention in Libya, the U.N. Security Council, stymied by Russia and China in particular, has only issued one weak statement condemning the violence in Syria.

And although the Arab League acted quickly to suspend Libya from membership in February, and later suspended Syria and sent a team of (unfortunately very quiet) observers, it remained quiet when Saudi Arabian troops, acting under a Gulf Cooperation Council banner, backed the Bahraini government’s efforts to crush protests.

The inconsistent response by international actors couldn’t be more visible than in the U.S. government’s actions. I am quoting my colleague Sanjeev Bery here, who makes a great point:

The Obama administration has been a forceful advocate for human rights in countries like Syria but in Egypt, where the United States maintains diplomatic and military relationships, hostile security forces continue to use U.S.-supplied weapons to violate human rights. In Bahrain, the administration has suspended a proposed $53 million shipment of U.S. weapons. But we believe this sale should be cancelled outright.

Please follow this blog over the following weeks for a series of postings on the MENA anniversaries that will include updates on how you can support activists and human rights defenders throughout the region in their work.

Learn more about the Year of Rebellion

• Q&A: The State of Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa
• Full report: Year of Rebellion
• Amnesty International’s output on the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa
• Eyes on Syria – Mapping Repression in Syria

Take a look at this slideshow of pictures from the last year:

To receive updates on the latest developments in the Middle East and North Africa, please follow me on Twitter. 

© UNHCR/B. Heger

Just moments ago U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a comprehensive new plan by the U.S. government to help protect women and girls in conflict zones and ensure that peace processes include women.

The new plan by the Administration is the first ever U.S. national action plan and Executive Order to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.   Often dubbed “the women’s resolution,” UNSC Resolution 1325 recognizes that significant action is needed to protect women and girls from armed conflict and include them in peace-building.  States have been asked to create a national action plan to specifically address the issue of women, peace and security.

Coming just days after her speech at the UN announcing U.S. commitment to the protection of LGBT rights worldwide, today’s announcement is another welcome step to protect the human rights of some of the world’s most at-risk communities.

Women and girls are uniquely and disproportionately affected by armed conflict.  In modern warfare, an estimated 90% of the casualties are civilians, and 75% of these are women and children.

But women and girls are not just victims of war; they are also powerful peace-builders whose efforts to prevent conflict and secure peace have been critical, yet largely unrecognized, under-resourced, and not integrated into formal peace processes.

Although women are often inescapably thrust into armed conflict, when the time comes to negotiate peace, women too often find themselves without a seat at the table. Only 1 in 13 participants in peace negotiations since 1992 have been women. Women have served as only 6% of negotiators to formalized peace talks and have never been appointed as chief mediators in UN-brokered talks.  By creating and implementing a strong national action plan, the U.S. is taking an important step to strengthen the role of women as peace-makers.

The U.S. Government’s plan will also help the international community’s ability to combat gender-based violence.  Global statistics that show that one in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime illustrate the staggering pervasiveness of gender-based violence.  The U.S. must seize this opportunity to take life-saving actions in conflict areas such as Afghanistan and the DRC; actions desperately needed by countless women and girls throughout the world’s conflict zones.

Amnesty International USA joined with other human rights organizations, women’s rights and peace groups to recommend the necessary components for a strong U.S. national action plan and is pleased to see many of these recommendations prominently featured in the plan.  These provisions include a focus on ensuring that women are full partners and participants in peace processes; ensuring training for U.S. personnel and contractors on women, peace and security issues; engaging and supporting women’s civil society organizations; and creating strategies to end sexual and gender-based violence.

The U.S’s commitment to women, peace and security is vital for the plan’s success.  Although a critical move forward, the release of this plan must be considered only the first in a series of actions to protect women’s human rights in the context of armed conflict and ensure their full participation in peace-building.

Because no woman, no peace.

Agree?  Visit our women’s human rights page to get involved.

A Yemeni women protesting the death of a woman and wounding of six others at the hands of Yemeni forces. © AFP/Getty Images

In late October of this year, hundreds of Yemeni women marched into a main street in Sanaa, the country’s capital.  In the middle of streets they laid a black cloth. Then in the middle of the cloth they threw their veils, piles of them, black fabric that had used to cover themselves.

Then they did something unprecedented in public: they set fire to them, marking an end to their seclusion and to their silence.

The night before, on October 25, 2011 twenty people had died protesting in Sanaa and nearby Taiz and the women wanted the world to know that they, like everyone else who had endured President Abdullah Saleh’s 33 year old regime, had had enough.

Women have been front and center in the protests that began in Yemen over ten months ago, visible among the people gathered in change square and relishing the breakdown of segregation among those gathered there.

On the second day of protests, one brave Yemeni woman chose to pitch her tent among men one of thousands of female students, housewives, and professionals who refused to stay home when the future of their nation was being fought in Yemen’s streets.  Their iconoclastic enthusiasm was buoyed when one of them Tawakkol Kamran, at 32 became the first Arab woman and the youngest ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

But not everyone rejoiced at their success, some remaining insistent on retaining the old ways. On November 30, 2011, the Yemen Times reported that the Islamist Islah party erected a wooden wall in Change Square to separate men from women. As one protestor noted, the message was clear, you may break other divisions in Yemeni society, but you will not break this one.  Many saw it as a visible reaction to the inroads being made by women during the protests; ones which heralded a new era in terms of gender relations.

In the words of Afra Habori, one female protestor who began a Facebook page demanding the dismantling of the wall, Yemeni women have begun the process of change but still have a long way to go.

Despite the erection of the wall, women have continued to maintain a presence in the square, but as the protests continue toward their one year anniversary, the long road ahead and the many obstacles it is likely to pose are becoming more obvious. One of these will be insuring that the removal of old hardships perpetrated by the Saleh regime, the vast silences imposed on political opponents and opposition do not translate into the creation of more walls and more exclusion.

Blog cowritten  by Alireza Azizi Country Specialist for Yemen

Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu

As Amnesty’s annual Write for Rights campaign come to a close, I wanted to give a shout out to my friends at Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). They are featured in this year’s event that culminates on International Human Rights Day, December 10th.

Their inclusion this year is especially poignant as WOZA activists Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu will be in court December 12th, facing charges with potentially serious consequences.

Jenni and Magodonga were arrested on September 21 (also the International Day of Peace!), along with 10 other WOZA activists. The others were soon released, but Jenni and Magondga face criminal charges relating to alleged incidents occurring this past summer at WOZA headquarters.

Amnesty International is concerned Jenni and Magodonga will not be accorded their right to a fair trial and remain alarmed by the ongoing harassment and intimidation of WOZA members and other human rights defenders in Zimbabwe who are exercising their right to peaceful protest.

In solidarity with WOZA and the work they do to advance human rights in Zimbabwe, we are further highlighting their work in conjunction with the release of Chimes of Freedom, a newly recorded album of Bob Dylan cover songs by such artists as Adele and Dave Matthews Band.

So join a Write For Rights event, listen to Chimes of Freedom streaming live on our Facebook page on December 10th, and remind the Zimbabwe government the power of love is greater than the love of power. Write for Love in Zimbabwe!

By Lyric Thompson, Amnesty USA’s Women’s Human Rights Coordination Group

Today we conclude our 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence blog series. Over the campaign, we’ve explored militarism and gender violence as related to such issues as small arms proliferation; women’s human rights defenders; and the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. It is fitting that we close the campaign with a look at some of the enduring elements of gender violence that continue after peace is officially declared, as we look toward a new year that will hopefully bring peace, equality and justice for all to a world rocked by revolution and social change.

We have explored the brutal effects of war when it comes to violence against women in countries in active conflict such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Afghanistan and Iraq.  War brings with it a culture of violence that now claims more civilian victims than combatants, the majority of those women and children. Yet to assume that with the declaration of peace comes an immediate cessation of violence would be incorrect; for women, the militarization of gender relations that accompanies war often results in higher incidence of violence after conflict.

We must remember this as we work to bring peace to today’s conflicts, from countries like DRC, where rape continues to be used as a strategic tool of war, to Egypt, where so-called “virginity tests” and other physical violence has been used to intimidate female protesters.

Take the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where during the 1992-­1995 war thousands of women and girls were raped. The testimonies women gave just after the war resulted in widespread media attention, public outrage and changes in international law. However, very little has actually been done for the survivors.

Today in the DRC some rape investigations have been called off because of reprisal attacks on those seeking justice, presenting a cruel example of the failure of a justice system to adequately anticipate and respond to–and ultimately deliver for–women who have suffered violence in war.

Similarly, Japan’s famous “comfort women” still await justice, reparations and even the mere acknowledgement by the Japanese Government that the army systematically trafficked, imprisoned and tortured the women as sex slaves throughout WWII. In addition to the miscarriage of justice this represents for survivors, the “comfort women” suffer the indignity of living in a society where not even the national textbooks reflect the historical fact that this grave abuse existed.

Coted’Ivoire is today a prime example of militarism’s enduring footprint of violence against women even after peace is officially declared and a new regime has taken the reigns. Since the beginning of the conflict in September 2002, hundred, possibly thousands of women and girls have been victims of human rights violations including widespread and at times systematic rape  committed by combatant forces or by civilians with close ties  to these forces. Women have again been targeted after the resumption of the post electoral violence in December 2010 where both parties loyal to the outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo and the internationally recognized President Alassane Ouattara attacked women and girls, raping and beating them.

Women have been similarly targeted for violence across this year’s uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Women on the front lines of peace and democracy movements often are politically sidelined once the dust settles. In Nepal’s conflict women played a key role in building peace and advocating for justice and democracy following that country’s civil war, yet today continue to be marginalized from national debates, and have been attacked in peace protests. Protesting outside their governments is the closest many women get to the political process after war and revolution.

We must be as explicit in our demands for the protection of women’s voices as we are for the protection of their bodies, during and beyond the time of war and revolution. As activists, policy makers or concerned global citizens, it is our duty to advocate for women’s rights and interests as much as we demand their rights to live free of violence. That is what the concept of Women, Peace and Security is all about — that women must be protected from violence in war, and their contributions to peace and democracy must be supported in the formal machinations of peace and justice.

Later this month, the U.S. Government is expected to launch the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, a new policy that will guide various U.S. defense, development and diplomatic activities to encourage the protection of women in conflict and the promotion of their access to opportunities to build peace and contribute to the emerging political, economic and social orders following war.

Along with a number of women’s and peace groups conducting advocacy on this issue, Amnesty International USA has drafted an expert statement calling on the U.S. to ensure that this policy has the resources and political buy-in necessary to ensure that it is as robust as possible and its implementation is ensured across the whole of the United States’ considerable foreign policy framework. We eagerly anticipate the launch of this policy on December 15th, and will continue to be deeply committed to ensuring its full implementation in the months and years ahead.

Like what you’ve learned in this series? Let us know! Email us at WHR@aiusa.org and let us know what actions you’ve taken in the course of our 16 Days campaign. You can continue the conversation by following our Women’s Rights Network on Twitter @AmnestyWomenRts and facebook.