What I’ll Tell Congress About Violence Against Women

November 19, 2013 at 11:24 AM

On Wednesday I will testify on behalf of Amnesty International USA before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on gender-based violence. I’ll use the opportunity to talk about how gender-based violence affects everyone but also how it disproportionately affects women and girls.

I’ll tell Congress that violence against women takes many forms, including rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage and acid attacks, to name a few. It’s a global human rights crisis that exacerbates instability and insecurity around the world.

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THIS EXISTS: Country Bans All Women From Driving

By Guest Writer

October 24, 2013 at 11:08 AM

Eman Al Nafjan is a female blogger from Saudi Arabia who has been campaigning against the driving ban. She was arrested by police earlier this month as she filmed a female driver breaking the ban. Get involved with the Women Driving Campaign on their official site, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

If there was one word to describe what it is like to be a Saudi woman, it would be the word patronizing. No matter how long you live, you remain a minor in the eyes of the government.

In Saudi Arabia, we take patriarchy to the extreme. The fact that the culture, like many others around the world, is male-dominated is not the major challenge. The real challenge is that the government has allowed this patriarchy to dictate how it deals with citizens.

Female citizens are assigned a legal male guardian from her immediate relatives. This male guardian can legally marry her off as a child to a man decades her senior. He can also legally and easily ban her from education, work and marriage. He has to pre-approve any international travel officially. Since basic education is free and college education comes with a stipend paid by the government to all public college students, most male guardians prefer to send their daughters to school. Yet in those cases where the male guardian chooses to imprison his female ward at home, the legal system makes it almost impossible for her to be able to get away.

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Violence Against Women: When Will Nicaragua Wake Up?

By Guest Writer

October 11, 2013 at 10:19 AM

There were over 32,000 complaints of domestic violence and sexual abuse in Nicaragua in 2012 (Photo Credit: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images).

By Liza Konczal, Amnesty USA’s Nicaragua Country Specialist

Less than 2 years after passing a law against violence against women (Law 779), the National Assembly of Nicaragua has weakened the protection it offers.

Near the end of September 2013, the Assembly voted to retract a part of the law that bans mediation in abuse cases. Women’s organizations in Nicaragua had worked arduously to reject mediation in the law, because the result could be re-victimization. Survivors of domestic abuse require protection of the law, not a chance to ‘work it out’ with their abusers.

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Will You Stand with Malala?

By Cristina Finch

October 8, 2013 at 10:55 AM

Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old Pakistani education and women’s rights advocate, was shot in the head and neck during an assassination attempt by a Taliban gunman on October 9, 2012. A year later, stand with Malala and take action to stop violence against women and girls (Photo by Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images).

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the Taliban’s attempted assassination of Malala Yousafzai. Malala, then a 15-year-old girl in Pakistan, bravely stood up against the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education and was shot by Taliban gunmen hoping to scare her and others like her into silence. The Taliban’s efforts failed and Malala survived. She has refused to be silent about girls’ human right to education – and instead, has become an internationally recognized spokeswoman for it.

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Go Inside Afghanistan’s ‘War on Women’

By Guest Writer

September 10, 2013 at 11:55 AM

Female activists hold candles and placards as they participate in a silent rally following the murder of Indian writer Sushmita Banerjee in Afghanistan (Photo Credit: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images).

By Horia Mosadiq, Afghanistan Researcher at Amnesty International.

Her body ridden with bullets and left on the outskirts of Gardiz, the provincial capital of Paktika province in Afghanistan, Sushmita Banerjee’s killing was horrifying but, sadly, not surprising.

The Indian woman had escaped captivity under the Taliban in 1995 and went on to write a book about her experiences.

Authorities in Afghanistan now say they have arrested two men over the killing, in a move that is unusual for cases of violence against women.

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Protesting the Regression to Repression in Russia

By Samir Goswami

August 12, 2013 at 4:34 PM

Policemen detain an opposition supporter taking part in a picketing calling for the release of the two jailed members the Pussy Riot (Photo Credit: Evgeny Feldman/AFP/Getty Images).

This blog originally appeared on Fem 2.0

A lot has changed in Russia since I visited Moscow in 1985.

It was an exciting time for citizens of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev had just taken over as the General Secretary of the Communist Party and introduced “Glasnost” or openness to a people who had for years lived under the dictates of a repressive government. Glasnost started a transformation in Soviet society and awoke long dormant aspirations of cultural, civil, and political freedoms.

The ensuing three decades were turbulent to say the least, but resulted in Russians enjoying and exercising greater freedoms, including the key ability to have a say in their own governance.

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Pull Up a Chair! Tell Congress You Want Women at the Peacemaking Table

By Julia Drost

August 1, 2013 at 2:54 PM

An Afghan woman displays her voter registration card at a voter registration center (Photo Credit: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images).

When did it become cliché to say that you want “world peace”? Probably for as long as anyone can remember.

But why should this be such a farfetched and unattainable objective? Perhaps we don’t believe peace will ever be sustainable because half of all peace agreements around the world fail within the first five years? Or perhaps because the way governments approach peace processes hasn’t changed despite such an abysmal record of success?

Perhaps it’s time to try something new. Something that can change this record and help build lasting and sustainable peace. Yesterday, several Members of the U.S. Congress agreed and laid down a marker for change.

Through the reintroduction of the Women, Peace and Security Act (WPS) of 2013 (H.R 2874), Members of Congress said loud and clear that the essential yet overwhelmingly absent component to both lasting peace and the prevention of recurring conflict is the inclusion of women.

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New Texas Legislation An ‘Unbelievable Attack’ on Women’s Rights

By Guest Writer

July 16, 2013 at 4:06 PM

Activists rally at the state capitol calling for women’s sexual and reproductive rights during a legislative debate on HB2 and SB1 (Photo Credit: Sahare Wazirali).

By Sahare Wazirali, Amnesty International Activist

I have been spending a lot of time in the Texas state capitol these days. Why? Because the state legislature debated unnecessary and dangerous new legislation that threatens to restrict access to our sexual and reproductive rights.

Two Texas bills have achieved significant attention in the national news and if Texas Gov. Rick Perry signs the legislation into law, as he is expected to do, women across Texas will be denied the autonomy to make decisions about their bodies. As a human rights activist, I feel compelled to speak out against legislation that will have devastating consequences for the health of women and girls in Texas.

The bills recently passed by the Texas legislature, House Bill 2 (HB2) and Senate Bill 1 (SB1), violate women’s sexual and reproductive human rights by limiting access to legal abortion and equal access to health services.

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Stand With Malala Yousafzai & the Right to Education at the United Nations

By Guest Writer

July 10, 2013 at 9:00 AM

In October 2012, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen, but survived. Now, in her first public appearance since the attack, she will stand with the UN in calling for youth around the world to have access to education (Photo Credit: Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images).

By Luka Mutinda, 2013 Ladis Kristof Fellow, AIUSA National Youth Action Committee Co-Chair

Nine months ago, a 15-year-old Pakistani girl named Malala Yousafzai stood up in brave defiance of the Taliban’s ban against female education. She was shot by Taliban gunmen in a senseless act of violence, but her powerful statement drew attention to education rights for millions of young people across the world.

This week, hundreds of youth leaders from around the world will come together at the United Nations headquarters in New York to stand in solidarity with Malala and the millions of young people who are denied access to education.

This Friday, Malala will be making her first public appearance since the shooting last fall. To commemorate her 16th birthday and highlight the urgency of the global education crisis, youth leaders will stand with Malala on July 12th to present the first-ever set of education policy demands drafted by youth.

I will join Emil Gronwall, an Amnesty youth leader from Sweden in representing Amnesty International at this historic event to address the UN youth assembly and deliver the “The Youth Resolution: The Education We Want” to world leaders in a collaborative global UN Youth Takeover.

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Sexual Assaults On Female Protesters Continue Amid Political Turmoil

By Guest Writer

July 3, 2013 at 11:19 AM

Faced with a spike in sexual violence against female protesters, Egyptian women are overcoming stigma and recounting painful testimonies to force silent authorities and a reticent society to confront “sexual terrorism” (Photo Credit: Mahmud Khaled/AFP/Getty Images).

By Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Egypt researcher, in Cairo

While the world is focusing on the political fall-out of millions of people taking to the streets in Egypt, with widespread calls for the resignation of President Mohamed Morsi, and the army taking over, other stomach-turning developments have passed virtually unnoticed: Women and girls protesting in the vicinity of Tahrir Square are, time and time again, being sexually attacked by mobs, with authorities remaining idle.

This is not a new phenomenon.

Testimonies from women caught up in the demonstrations, survivors from previous protests and those trying to help, point to a horrific chain of events: tens if not hundreds of men surround their victims, tearing-off their clothes and veils, unzipping trousers, groping breasts and backsides. Sticks, blades and other weapons are frequently used in such attacks.

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Human Rights Now Blog

Tag Archives: women’s human rights defenders

Violence Against Women: When Will Nicaragua Wake Up?

Protesting the Regression to Repression in Russia

Stand With Malala Yousafzai & the Right to Education at the United Nations

Sexual Assaults On Female Protesters Continue Amid Political Turmoil