SVAW Newsletter 10 AI Index: ACT 77/006/2006

Break the silence! Make some noise to end violence against women

Mexican rock band 'Jaguares' supporting AI's campaign to Stop Violence Against Women
© AI

For too long, violence against women has been considered a private matter – a tragedy hidden behind tight smiles and dark glasses.

Starting this month, Make Some Noise – Amnesty International’s groundbreaking music campaign – together with the Stop Violence Against Women campaign will try to change perceptions by bringing this human rights scandal into the full light of day, and making sure people stand up and take action to end it.


"What do I hope for? That we are not forgotten. That you carry on supporting us. If we take each other by the hand, we will prevail."
Norma Ledesma, the mother of Paloma Escobar Ledesma who was murdered in 2002, Chihuahua, Mexico


Over the next three months, Make Some Noise wants you to support the grassroots work of inspiring women in Ciudad Juarez and elsewhere by sending e-cards demanding justice.

Since 1993, almost 400 women and girls have been murdered and more than 70 remain missing in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico. After years of campaigning on this issue, Mexican rock group and Make Some Noise artist Jaguares will add their support to the struggle of women activists on the ground.

Violence against women is a silent scandal that blights lives regardless of class or culture. Help tear a hole in that silence.

Start making a difference today!

In the early hours of the morning on 9 November 2005, 12 teenage schoolgirls were abducted by armed gunmen from their boarding school in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. They were taken to nearby bushes and raped. The incident provoked public outrage but not surprise.

Russian Federation: Violence against women must not be ignored
Violence against women in the Russian Federation is one of the most pervasive, yet hidden human rights abuses.
Recent independent research revealed that 70 per cent of married women had been subjected to one or another form of violence by their husband.

El Salvador: Women living between danger and impunity
The government of El Salvador has an outstanding debt to the women of this country, a debt that can only be repaid with justice, said Amnesty International on the publication of a letter to President Saca.

Guatemala: Killings of women continue unchallenged
On 12 August 2005, Claudina Isabel Velázquez Paíz, a 19-year-old law student left her home in Guatemala City to go to university. It was the last time her family saw her alive.

PARTNER ONLINE

International Museum of Women
Check out the video Imagining Ourselves: A Global Generation of women of the online exhibition for young women to create positive change through photography, painting, poetry and prose.

Voices from the frontline

"You girls will not be cut and you do not need to be cut to be a grown up."
- Agnes Pareiyo, Kenya



[Stories]

In France...
"Le seul bleu tolérable sur le visage d'une femme"
Every four days, a woman dies at the hands of her partner. Watch AI France’s video. (Windows Media Player or Real Player, French only)

Coming soon: "domestic violence exposed"
a series of monthly online features

[Go Global]

createChange Violence against women is not acceptable – nor is it inevitable. We asked a group of artists to create these unique e-cards. Take a look. Pass them on. Create change. [Send a postcard]

Chinese journalist, Shi Tao, is serving a ten-year prison sentence for sending an email to the USA. Act now