It's in Our Hands

It’s in our hands Stop violence against women Cover photos, front: Refugees from the conflict in Throughout this report, individual cases of violence Kosovo. © Andrew Testa/Panos Pictures against women are described and in some cases Back: South Korean women used as sex slaves illustrated with photographs. These stories are by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second disturbing, but the aim is not to shock, nor to draw World War demand compensation and redress. unwanted attention to the woman who has already © AP suffered enough, but to reinforce the point that Demonstrators oppose violence against women in violence devastates the lives of women all over the Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in front of the Palace of world. The stories have been selected to indicate the Justice. © AP many forms and contexts of violence against women. Women rally in Rome, Italy, to demand action In many cases we have changed the names to prevent against homelessness. © Maila Iacovelli/Spot the the women being identified. Difference Amnesty International has always based its work Amnesty International Publications on championing the rights of the individual. These First published in 2004 by women are more than just statistics, they are real Amnesty International Publications people who deserve to have their stories heard, and to International Secretariat receive justice, redress and respect. Peter Benenson House 1 Easton Street We have generally not cited Amnesty International London WC1X 0DW reports in the text, but a selection of reports on United Kingdom women’s human rights can be found in Appendix 1. www.amnesty.org This report would not have been possible without the help of many women’s rights activists who © Copyright volunteered their time and expertise to assist Amnesty Amnesty International Publications 2004 International in preparations for its campaign. In ISBN: 0-86210-349-5 particular, Amnesty International would like to thank AI Index: ACT 77/001/2004 Susana Fried, gender and human rights consultant. Original language: English Printed by: Alden Press Osney Mead Oxford, United Kingdom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers. CONTENTS Foreword by Irene Khan, Secretary General, Amnesty International iii Chapter 1. Stop violence against women 1 A human rights scandal 3 Roots of violence 5 Long-term damage, widespread harm 8 Violence unchecked 9 Accountability 10 The human rights framework 11 Amnesty International’s campaign 14 Chapter 2. Sexuality, violence and rights 17 Controlling women’s behaviour 18 Sexualized abuse 22 Reproductive rights 24 Chapter 3. Culture, community and universality 29 Community pressures and prejudices 30 Human rights are universal 32 Confronting the ‘backlash’ 35 Chapter 4. Multiple jeopardy – poverty, stigma and discrimination 39 Entrenched poverty, entrenched violence 40 Unequal treatment – women, violence and HIV/AIDS 41 ‘Less than human’ 43 Violence at work – exploiting discrimination 44 Challenging discrimination and violence 46 Chapter 5. Conflict and violence against women 49 Militarization 49 Violence in war 50 Violence in conflict, violence in the home 52 After the war, the violence continues 52 Abuses by armed groups 56 Women combatants 58 Fleeing violence, finding violence 61 Women demanding rights and seeking peace 64 Chapter 6. International human rights law and violence against women 67 Violence as a form of discrimination 68 Human rights standards 68 States’ obligations 72 Due diligence 74 Equal protection of the law 75 Freedom from torture 75 Rape as torture 76 International law and armed conflict 77 Right to international protection 79 Chapter 7. Impunity – violence unchecked and unpunished 83 The limitations of criminal justice solutions 85 Flawed laws 87 Discriminatory laws 88 Failure to implement the law 89 Community complicity 93 Chapter 8. Parallel legal systems 95 ‘Restorative’ justice 98 Chapter 9. Organizing for change – making a difference 101 Making rights matter 101 Naming violations 102 Raising awareness 104 Engaging human rights mechanisms 105 Harnessing community responsibility 106 Civil sanctions 106 Demanding local action 107 Amnesty International’s Agenda for Change 109 Amnesty International’s worldwide campaign to Stop Violence against Women 110 Appendix 1. Selected Amnesty International reports on women’s human rights 114 Endnotes 117 Foreword by Irene Khan, Secretary General, Amnesty International I met Jamila, a 16-year-old Afghan girl, in the women’s prison in Kabul last year. The prison was full of women accused of adultery, running away from brutal husbands or wanting to marry the man of their choice. Jamila had been abducted from her home in Kunduz a year earlier, forced into marriage, abused and raped. When her husband’s uncle threatened to rape her, she could not bear it any longer and ran away. But she was caught by the police and sent to prison for deserting her husband. Jamila told me she wanted to return to her parents, but she was afraid that her father would kill her because, according to him, she has soiled the family honour. If he did not kill her, the man who had forcibly married her certainly would. Her fears are not unfounded. Earlier that year, the Afghan President Hamid Karzai had granted amnesty to about 20 women and girls like her. Some of them were killed by their own families, others have “disappeared”. But despite all this, Jamila’s eyes lit up with hope as she told me that one day she would get out of prison, marry the man of her choice and live her life in freedom. I never met Paloma but I heard about her from her mother. Paloma was one of several hundred young women who were murdered in the city of Ciudad Juárez, on the Mexican/US border. Over a period of 10 years, these women were abducted, tortured, raped and killed. The authorities did little to investigate, prosecute or stop the crimes because the victims were poor, powerless women without any political clout. Many had come to Ciudad Juárez to work in the maquiladoras – assembly plants set up by multinational companies on the Mexican border to exploit tax breaks and cheap Mexican labour. Young women like Paloma fuelled the global economy in the hopes of gaining from it but instead became victims of globalization. What shone through in this case was the courage of the mothers of the women killed in Ciudad Juárez. They have organized themselves and are agitating for justice. Together with them and others, Amnesty International succeeded in pressurizing the Federal Government of Mexico to intervene in Ciudad Juárez last year in an effort to end the killings. The stories of Jamila and Paloma are just two examples among millions of the most outrageous human rights scandal of our times: violence against women. Women in Asia and the Middle East are killed in the name of honour. Girls in West Africa undergo genital mutilation in the name of custom. Migrant and refugee women in western Europe are attacked for not accepting the social Foreword iii mores of their host community. Young girls in southern Africa are raped and infected with HIV/AIDs because the perpetrators believe that sex with virgins will cure them of their disease. And in the richest, most developed countries of the world, women are battered to death by their partners. Such violence thrives because too many governments turn a blind eye and allow violence against women to occur with impunity. In too many countries, law, policies and practices discriminate against women, denying them equality with men, and making them vulnerable to violence. In too many parts of the world, women are trapped in a cycle of poverty which breeds violence. Too often gender roles and societal structures reinforce the power of men over women’s lives and bodies. In too many communities, religious leaders and the media promote roles, attitudes and customs which seek to subordinate and subjugate women. Too often armed groups flout international humanitarian law and use rape as tactic of war to defeat and humiliate the enemy, and too often they get away with it. The proliferation of small arms, the militarization of many societies and the backlash against human rights in the context of the “war on terror” is only worsening the plight of women. Human rights are universal – violence against women has made human rights abuse universal. Women from different countries and continents, from diverse religions, cultures and social backgrounds, educated or illiterate, rich or poor, whether living in the midst of war or in times of peace, are bound by a common thread of violence – often at the hands of the state or armed groups, the community or their own family. The greatest challenge to this scourge has come from individual women and women’s groups who have stood up and spoken out, often at cost to their lives. They have organized themselves to demand justice. They have called for their human rights to be respected, protected and fulfilled. Thanks to their efforts, important breakthroughs have been made in terms of international treaties and mechanisms, laws and policies. But these achievements continue to fall dismally short of the real needs because the promises they contain remain just that. International treaties and mechanisms are only useful if they are implemented properly. Otherwise they are simply hot air. Laws and policies only offer protection if they are respected. Otherwise they are just printed words. Human rights are only real if they provide real equality and equal protection. So, the challenge still remains to bring about change that will make a real difference in the lives of women. That is what women the world over are calling for today.

Load more