by Lisa Fraser
From November 25th until December 10th, Amnesty International and many others around the nation and the world will stand together to support 16 Days for Women’s Rights. Together they will all call for an end to violence against women. Amnesty International along with their other partners will also stand in support for the International Violence Against Women Act, a piece of legislation aimed at ending violence and bringing justice to women worldwide. The act is co-sponsored by Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, and has not been passed yet.
According to amnestyusa.org, this act would provide:
- Increased efforts to prevent violence against women during conflict and in humanitarian settings
- Increased pressure to find perpetrators and bring them to justice
- Strengthened capacity of women's organizations working to bring such perpetrators of violence to justice
- Increased opportunities for women, free from violence, to seek testing or treatment for HIV/AIDS or disclose their HIV status without fear
- Increased economic and educational opportunities that would reduce the vulnerability of women at risk of violence
Amnesty International also formed the Stop Violence Against Women Campaign, dedicated to making women’s rights a reality for many women across the globe. The campaign states that in the United States alone, a woman is raped every 6 minutes and a woman is battered every 15 seconds. Rape of women is widespread in armed conflicts, such as in Colombia and Darfur, not to mention the Congo. Trafficking of women has become a global phenomenon where victims are sexually exploited, forced into labor, and subjected to abuse. Murders of women in Guatemala, Russia, India, and other countries often go uninvestigated and unpunished. Across the United States, Native American and Alaskan women are more than two times as likely to be raped, and usually receive no justice.
How long will these atrocities go unnoticed? Amnesty International is encouraging all of us to make a difference.
If you would like Congress to pass the IVAW Act, log on to the amnestyusa.org website and follow the link to send a letter to your local representative or senator. While waiting for the act to pass, tell everyone else to stand up and recognize that violence against women around the world and in the U.S.A. needs to cease.
