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This document is designed to help you campaign to stop violence against women and girls in your country, by lobbying for national change in accordance with your state’s international legal obligations. It is designed primarily for Amnesty International sections and structures, but we hope it will also be useful for other human rights and women’s organizations.

This booklet includes a step-by-step guide to organizing your campaign. This process will be more familiar to some sections and structures than to others. And some ideas will be more practical and productive in some countries than in others. You can adapt the ideas to suit your organization and the particular cultural, legal and social situation in your country. Use what suits you and leave the rest. The step-by-step guide includes real examples.

This document should be read in conjunction with the other reports in Amnesty International’s Making Rights a Reality: An Activist Toolkit. One part, Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004), outlines the legal obligations of states under international law, and explains the concept of due diligence. Another part, Making Rights a Reality: Gender awareness workshops (AI Index ACT 77/035/2004), explores the underlying gender issues relevant to the Stop Violence Against Women campaign. The Amnesty International Campaigning Manual (AI Index: ACT 10/002/2001) provides more detail on campaigning ideas and processes. The guidelines on campaigning in your own country will also be helpful to Amnesty International sections and structures, as will the guidelines on the use of gender-sensitive language. And finally the Stop Violence Against Women campaign launch report, It’s in our hands: Stop violence against women (AI Index: ACT/77/001/2004), and the campaign website at

http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen both provide important background information on the issue of violence against women.

2. The Stop Violence Against Women Campaign

Violence against women is endemic. It is one of the most pervasive human rights abuses, as well as one of the most hidden. It is almost universally under-reported.

Violence against women cuts across cultural, regional, religious and economic boundaries affecting women of every class, race, ethnicity, age, religion or belief, (dis)ability, nationality and sexual identity.

Values and beliefs in many societies that discriminate against women mean that violence against women is too often seen as “natural” or “normal” and so is not challenged.

Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign was launched on 5 March 2004. The Stop Violence against Women campaign focuses initially on violence in the home and in conflict. The long-term campaign goals are to:

1. Abolish laws that support impunity for violence against women and laws that discriminate against women.

2. Enact and implement effective laws and practices to protect women from violence in conflict and post-conflict situations and ensure that impunity is ended for combatants who commit violence against women, and their commanders.

3. Hold states individually and collectively accountable to their obligations under international law to prevent, investigate, punish and redress all acts of violence against women whether in peacetime or armed conflict.

4. Secure effective action to stop violence against women at the community level by local governments and civil society, including religious bodies, traditional and informal authorities.

The Stop Violence Against Women campaign is a different kind of campaign to those previously run by Amnesty International for four reasons:

1. It focuses on the issue of violence against women in the family and in conflict and the discrimination that is the root cause behind that violence, addressing the general pattern of violations as well as taking action on behalf of particular individuals. It calls upon state responsibility as well as invoking individual and community commitment to stop violence against women.

2. It will run in partnership with women’s organizations and other groups.

3. Sections and structures are encouraged to conduct research and to campaign on this issue in their own country. This reflects a growing trend for Amnesty International sections and structures to be rooted in their national and local realities and to operate at that level. Bridging the gap between local and global research and campaigning, sections and structures will also engage in campaigning at the international level and campaigning on each other’s research projects.

4. The campaign will incorporate a full range of campaign tools including strategically integrated lobbying, events, research, media and new media as well as letter-writing action by members. During its first phase, the Stop Violence Against Women campaign is a transition campaign, moving Amnesty International towards a new dynamic campaigning approach.

Amnesty International sections and structures who plan to research the issue in their own country should first read the Work On Own Country (WOOC) revised application of the criteria for WOOC pilot projects AI Index ORG 20/002/2003, and the Stop Violence Against Women Campaign: Work On Own Country: Criteria for Research Projects, AI Index ACT 77/012/2003.

The Work On Own Country (WOOC) revised criteria for pilot projects outline the steps that Amnesty International sections and structures need to take to conduct research for the Stop Violence Against Women campaign in their own country. The document notes the different types of research projects that can be undertaken and which projects need prior approval from the International Executive Committee. Once your section or section board has approved the idea, you will need to contact the International Secretariat to liaise on issues including research methodology and aligning your projects with the Stop Violence Against Women campaign strategy.

3. Due diligence: a tool for change

Human rights law offers women more protection against violence than is usually recognized. Some states lack the political will and commitment to translate the international human rights laws to which they are committed into effective domestic laws that protect women from violence. Some fail to allocate adequate resources to implement laws even where these exist. And there is often no integrated approach between or among enforcing agencies. But laws to protect women from violence do exist and they can be enforced. In fact national legislation on violence against women is one of the key achievements over the past decades.

Countries have a wide range of responsibilities under international human rights law. These responsibilities include the obligation to “respect” women’s rights (for example by providing for gender equality in the constitution); to “protect” women’s rights (for example by ensuring that discrimination by private individuals and organizations, such as companies, does not erode those rights); and to “fulfil” women’s rights (for example by ensuring that women can take advantage of their rights in practice through information about their rights, legal aid assistance and so on).

Over the last decade, increasing attention has been given to states’ obligation to intervene when non-state actors – private individuals in their everyday lives and groups within the community – abuse human rights. Under international law, the state has clear responsibilities for human rights abuses committed by non-state actors.

General Recommendation 19 of the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (paragraph 9) states:

“Under general international law and specific human rights covenants, States may also be responsible for private acts if they fail to act with due diligence to prevent violations of rights or to investigate and punish acts of violence, and for providing compensation.”

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in the case of Velásquez Rodríguez in 1989, acknowledged that the state, Honduras, was not involved directly in the killing and abduction of political activists by “death squads” of armed men, not apparently connected to the state’s armed forces. However, the Court ruled that the state was still responsible under international law, as it had failed to stop these private citizens from abusing the rights of other private citizens. This principle is the basis of the legal concept of due diligence.

The legal concept of due diligence has led to the development of the theory of state responsibility to make rights a reality in cases where the perpetrator as well as the victim is not an agent of the state. This includes domestic violence. The general principle of state responsibility requires that when states know, or ought to know, about abuses of human rights, and fail to take appropriate steps to prevent the violations, then they bear responsibility for the action. The obligation of states to bring to justice state agents who commit violations of human rights is not negotiable and is not included within the standard of due diligence.

National governments are responsible for taking action to prevent the abuse of women’s human rights - including violence against women - in the first place, as well as for bringing perpetrators to justice after the event. This means that governments are responsible for educational, legal and practical measures to reduce the incidence of violence: for example, by improving street lighting in an area where women have been raped.

Secondly, some countries wrongly interpret international human rights law as meaning that their responsibility is limited to making sure that people acting on their behalf (state actors) comply with human rights law. In fact, they are required to prevent, investigate and punish abuses by both state and non-state actors.

This means that states are responsible for preventing and prosecuting human rights abuses committed by individuals. This is key to combating violence against women, which is often perpetrated by husbands and partners, employers, family members, neighbours, corporations and other individuals or non-state actors. For example, it means that states can be held responsible for violence within the family – the most commonly reported type of violence against women.

These responsibilities are enshrined within the established requirement to exercise due diligence to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. Due diligence has developed through the comments of inter-governmental bodies of the UN and human right courts. It is used by the various organs of the UN and regional human rights bodies to monitor countries’ implementation of human rights treaties and is a way to measure whether a state has done enough to fulfil its human rights obligations.

Exercising due diligence includes taking effective steps to prevent abuses, to investigate them when they occur, to prosecute the alleged perpetrators and bring them to justice in fair proceedings, and to ensure adequate reparation for the victims, including rehabilitation and redress. It also means ensuring that justice is secured without discrimination of any kind.

The step-by-step guide below is designed to help you use the concept of due diligence as a campaigning tool to stop violence against women.

In practical terms invoking the standard of due diligence:

• Gives campaigners a way of using the human rights framework to stop violence against women by invoking state responsibility for violations by state and non-state actors.

• Provides a concrete framework for demanding a range of reforms, from bringing non-state perpetrators to justice to preventative measures.

• Can be invoked at the local level, and sets the basis for dialogues with local authorities, politicians and other leaders.

4. Step-by-step guide to using due diligence as a campaign tool

Amnesty International has set clear global campaign goals, which should provide a useful context when you plan how to run the Stop Violence Against Women campaign in your country. For more detail about how the goals were set, global objectives and campaigning projects, see the Stop Violence Against Women Campaign 2004-2006 Updated Strategy and Action Plan, (AI Index: ACT77/014/2003) and Stop Violence Against Women campaign, Campaigning Projects For 2004-2006 (AI Index: ACT 77/057/2004).

This step-by-step guide aims to help you to set clear objectives and devise tactics that will deliver the campaign goals effectively at a national level. Amnesty International resources such as the Amnesty International Campaigning Manual (AI Index: ACT 10/002/2001) and the reference materials listed in Appendix 1 will offer more detailed help in working through this process.

For your national campaign, you’ll need to:

• Identify the problem.

• Map the context.

• Set objectives.

• Identify target audiences and approaches.

• Identify the critical pathway.

• Plan campaign activities.

• Monitor and report back.

Step One: Identify the problem in your country

Amnesty International has identified the problems in global terms: violence against women is one of the most pervasive human rights abuses, as well as one of the most hidden. It is almost universally under-reported. It cuts across all boundaries and is often not challenged. Violence is both rooted in discrimination and serves to reinforce discrimination, preventing women from exercising their rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men. There is too often impunity for those committing violence against women, and governments do not provide an environment that is free from violence.

As outlined above, states have a responsibility to protect people within their country from violence: both in the public sphere and in private, for example within their family unit. This holds true whether the violence is committed by agents of the state (such as police, officials or soldiers) or by private individuals and groups. This responsibility is enshrined in international law, which prescribes a range of responsibilities by states to ensure respect for human rights.

However not all states fulfil this responsibility. Culturally accepted assumptions about the roles of men and women in society mean that many countries simply do not have the laws in place to protect women adequately. For example, some countries have no law prohibiting the rape of a woman by her husband.

And where countries do reflect in domestic laws their international legal obligations to protect women from violence, those laws are not always invoked or enforced. “Gender blindness” means that violence against women is sometimes accepted by society as inevitable and is not recognized as a crime. (For example, military and civil leaders repeatedly ignored the allegations of a woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo that soldiers had raped her.)

Amnesty International’s International Secretariat has produced a document outlining the international legal standards about women and violence that apply to individual countries. See Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004). You can use this report to identify the problem in your own country and to assess your government’s record on this issue. You can then publicize any failings and lobby for change in national legislation and practice to reflect your country’s obligations under international human rights treaties.

Analyse your national legislation

You need to analyse the legal situation in your country and to identify, for example:

1. Which of the main human rights treaties has your country still to ratify?

2. What laws are in place that perpetuate gender inequity or allow gendered discrimination or violence to take place with impunity? For example, customary laws¹ often discriminate against women. Discriminatory laws that limit a woman’s right to divorce, inheritance or owning property restrict women’s rights and their ability to leave violent relationships.

3. What laws are required to allow the authorities in your country to prosecute those who commit violence against women? Examples include laws making rape in marriage a crime, and the introduction or strengthening of laws on equality. (For example in the Philippines, after successful lobbying by women’s groups, a new criminal law on rape was introduced in 1997 which defined rape as violence against a person and included oral sex and acts of sexual torture.)

4. What is the incidence of violence against women in conflict situations and how often are the perpetrators brought to justice?

5. What is the protection for women asylum-seekers fleeing violence? (For example, in 1993 the Canadian government adopted new guidelines to recognize gender-based persecution as a ground for asylum following public pressure on a number of cases, including a Saudi Arabian woman who had initially been refused asylum. She had been harassed and threatened for not wearing a veil.)

6. What access do survivors have to appropriate medical treatment, protection and redress? Is this treatment available regardless of the survivor’s status?

7. What measures are being taken to protect women from violence? (For example, do women fleeing violent situations have access to safe housing? Are refuges available for them and their children?)

You could do this legal analysis in conjunction with other women’s or human rights organizations. Sections and structures should contact women’s organizations, support groups, advice centres and others working on violence against women to find out what kind of research has already been carried out. If there are gaps in the available information, you could work in collaboration with such groups to obtain it. See Working with others to Stop Violence Against Women (AI Index: ACT 77/058/2004).

Make sure that you do the research within the framework of the international standards as set out in Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004). You may also like to refer to Freedom from terror, safety from harm: challenge your government to stamp out the torture and ill-treatment of women (AI Index: ACT77/005/2001) and “There is no excuse”; Gender-based violence in the home and protection of the human rights of women in Spain (AI Spain, November 2003).

You should be able to get a copy of the relevant legislation in your country from your national justice department, department of constitutional affairs or equivalent government department. It may be available online directly from the department’s website, or through a library.

You can check which human rights treaties your government has ratified, what reservations it has made to limit the application of the treaty, and when it is due to report on the implementation of those treaties. This information is available on the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at: http://www.unhchr.ch or http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw

All states are required to pay particular attention to the issue of violence against women, and to take active steps to eradicate it, through prevention, investigation and punishment. This has been spelt out by international political bodies such as the UN General Assembly in its Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Resolution 52/86 on crime prevention and criminal justice measures to eliminate violence against women; the UN Commission on Human Rights in its resolutions, particularly on violence against women; and the UN Security Council in its Resolution 1325 on the rights of women and children in armed conflict. This requirement has been reiterated by human rights treaty bodies such as the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in its General Recommendation 19, and the UN Human Rights Committee in its General Comment 28. See Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004), chapter two.

Several international and regional laws and treaties are directly relevant to defending women’s human rights. Treaties are legally binding agreements, which must direct the behaviour of states. The key areas of laws are:

International law and international human rights law

• The detailed mandate to secure equality between women and men and to prohibit discrimination against women is set out in the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This mandate finds its source in core human rights documents – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The principles in these three documents, collectively known as the “International Bill of Human Rights”, proclaim the rights to equality, liberty and security and the rights to be free from discrimination, torture, and degrading and inhuman treatment. Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not a treaty, and therefore not legally binding in itself, many of its provisions, for example, the commitment to non-discrimination and the rule against the use of torture, are part of general international law.

• The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women specifies rights to equality in the family, as well as in terms of work, education, political participation and security of person. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights specifies the equal enjoyment of men and women to all civil and political rights outlined in the treaty without discrimination, as does the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to the rights it outlines.

• There are also a number of consensus documents that set out the mandate for addressing violence against women as a human rights issue. These include the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the Outcome document of the UN General Assembly Special Session in 2000 (Beijing + 5).

• International customary is also relevant, as violence against women breaches it. This is set out in the International Law Commission’s draft Articles on State Responsibility. See Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004), chapter two.

• When a country ratifies a treaty, it becomes a state party and undertakes to ensure that domestic legislation is in line with provisions of the treaty. If you establish that there are domestic laws that are contrary to the provisions of the treaty, then you should bring this to the attention of the relevant treaty monitoring body, for example through a shadow report at the time of the review of the country’s periodic report. You should also bring it to the attention of the government and other relevant authorities in your campaign to end violence against women.

International human rights law provides that all states must ensure that those within their jurisdiction enjoy their human rights. This includes the responsibility of states to intervene when individuals act in a way that affects other peoples’ rights. See Article 12, International Law Commission’s draft Articles on State Responsibility and Article 1, European Convention on Human Rights. The state has a duty to intervene when women are being subjected to violence by armed groups in conflict situations and also in the context of violence in the family. See Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004), chapter two.

International humanitarian law and international criminal law

• International humanitarian law (including the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols) applies to the conduct of all parties to armed conflicts, whether international or internal. The international human rights framework can also apply to the actions of the state and its security forces during periods of armed conflict. In all cases, the state is accountable for the actions of armed groups that work in association with it or are tolerated by it (such as paramilitary forces, militias, “death squads” or vigilantes). Members of armed groups, whether allied to the state or not, are required, as a minimum, to respect the provisions of common Article 3 of all four Geneva Conventions. This requires them to refrain from violence to civilians, including murder, torture and inhuman treatment of all kinds, including rape and other forms of sexual violence. They are also liable under international criminal law for war crimes, (including breaches of common Article 3) and crimes against humanity.

• Acts of violence against women in conflict are prohibited under both international human rights and humanitarian law. Under customary international law (law which is binding on all states, whether or not they are bound by treaty law), many acts of violence against women committed by parties to a conflict constitute torture. In addition, the following acts are war crimes: rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization and certain other forms of sexual violence of comparable severity. If these acts are knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population, they constitute crimes against humanity.

• Torture of women in an international armed conflict is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, and, in certain circumstances, may constitute an element of genocide. Acts of violence against women amounting to torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are subject to universal jurisdiction. This means that under international law, the authorities in any country where people suspected of such crimes are found can – and should – investigate, regardless of where the crime was committed. If there is sufficient admissible evidence, that state should prosecute the suspects, extradite them to a state able and willing to do so in a fair trial without the death penalty, or surrender the suspects to an international criminal court.

Regional human rights treaties

• Regional human rights treaties also require states to implement rights equally between men and women. These are: the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa; and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (“Convention of Belem do Para”) is the one regional treaty, that specifically addresses violence against women in detail. See Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004), chapter two.

Step Two: Map the external and internal context

The next step is to analyse the context in which your campaign will be operating. What are the key factors that will affect the way you choose your objectives and position your campaign? You should consider how economic, social, political and legal trends in your country are impacting on the reality and perception of women, human rights and violence.

These factors will influence what campaign objective you think will most improve the situation in your country at present; what change you can realistically hope to make; which opinion formers and decision-makers you target; and the “mood” of your campaign.

Alongside analysing the external context you should also, as with any campaign, conduct a brief analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your section or structure or organization to ensure that your plans match your resources and organizational plans. (This is known as a SWOT analysis.) You should focus first on your what you are good at and where your strengths are in relation to the campaign, before moving on to new areas.

It will also be timely at this stage to approach women’s organizations in your country, before you move to setting objectives and individual activities.

Women’s organizations play a key role

While working on women’s rights issues may be new to some Amnesty International sections and structures, there is a strong, well-established international network of women’s organizations with many years’ experience of campaigning for women’s rights, including on the issue of violence.

It is important that Amnesty International supports and complements work that is being done in the field already, and acknowledges that other organizations may have greater expertise. Amnesty International sections and structures and other human rights activists can learn from the groundbreaking work that these groups have done.

The next step in your campaign planning is therefore to contact the women’s organizations in your country, ask what they are working on and how they see Amnesty International could help. Amnesty International can probably best make a contribution to the broader movement working to stop violence against women in terms of its legal expertise and research, and in analysing violence against women through the lens of human rights legislation.

Be aware that in many countries violence against women is seen as a women’s issue, so human rights organizations may find it difficult at first to initiate a dialogue with women’s organizations. An approach that acknowledges the greater experience of the women’s movement should help facilitate this dialogue. For example, Amnesty International UK consulted the women’s movements in the UK, recognizing their depth of experience in research and action on this issue, before developing its own project in the UK to combat violence against women.

The outline of the campaign strategy, consultation strategy and questions for consultation Amnesty International UK sent to women’s organizations as their initial approach is a good model to follow: it is included in Appendix II for your reference.

Ensure the involvement of men

You should also consider how you are going to involve men in your campaign. Men are both an internal and external audience. As a mainstream organization of women and men, Amnesty International is well placed to engage men in the movement on the issue and to build partnerships with men to become advocates to stop violence against women. Some men have been actively engaged in challenging violence against women, but for many men the issue is remote. They have limited awareness of violence against women and little idea of how to engage with it or impact on it. You need to take this into account in your planning and activities.

Other allies

Amnesty International colleagues may prove a valuable source of support and information, in particular those in other sections and structures who have worked on issues relating to your country.

Potential allies include medical professionals, lawyers, teachers, housing authorities, police, trade unions, and journalists.

In addition to identifying allies, you should identify those groups who will oppose any campaign to stop violence against women. You will need to think through what arguments and tactics they may use against you and how best to counter them, as part of your campaign plan. The Questions and Answers published during the launch of the Stop Violence Against Women campaign should help you respond to arguments and issues that might be put forward by those opposing the campaign. See Questions and Answers Parts I, II and III (AI Index: ACT 77/019/2004; ACT 77/025/2004and ACT 77/033/2004).

Step Three: Set objectives

Each objective you set should take you one step nearer to reaching the overall Stop Violence Against Women campaign goals as outlined on page three.

The objectives will use the concept of due diligence to reach these goals. In other words they will reflect the responsibility of your country’s government to reduce violence against women.

The objectives should be SMART:

• Specific.

• Measurable.

• Achievable.

• Relevant.

• Time bound.

This will help clarify what you are trying to achieve, help you plan activities so that they bring the result you want, and make evaluation easier.

There are a number of tools you can use to develop your campaign strategy. These include the “strategic campaigning cycle” and the “problem and solution tree”. Details of how to develop a “strategic campaigning cycle” can be found on p 24 -25 of the Amnesty International Campaigning Manual (AI Index: ACT 10/002/2001), page 13 and pages 24-28 of the manual will also provide more help with this process. The “problem and solution tree” can help to analyse a situation and identify the core problem you want to focus on. By placing the problem in the centre and brainstorming the causes and effects of the problem to create the problem and tree and then transforming it into a solution tree by reversing the core problem to create a goal, transforming the causes to objectives and effects to benefits. A “problem and solution tree” can be used in a group or with other organizations.

An example of one is given below:

You might identify your ultimate goal to be the ratification and implementation of CEDAW into national law, but you choose to begin with awareness raising objectives to change prejudices and put violence against women on the public agenda. This will assist in getting more support for the need for the ratification of CEDAW.

Below are some examples of the objectives you could choose, based on your analysis of the legal situation in your country and the broader context. Many of these are real objectives that have been set by regional programs in the International Secretariat or by Amnesty International sections and structures.

Type A: Legislative change

Your analysis of the legal situation in your country will show you which international standards your government has not ratified and where its legislation is failing to provide protection from violence for women. You can develop campaign objectives that aim to fill those gaps.

The objectives may be broad in focus – to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) – or narrow – to modify an existing customary law. This will depend on where your research, including your conversations with women’s organizations, shows the greatest need and the greatest chance of success.

The objectives could challenge discriminatory laws that impede women’s rights and access to justice and allow for gender-based violence. They could also hold your country accountable to the standards it has agreed to through the UN or regional intergovernmental bodies.

Examples of objectives that you could adopt or adapt:

• Your country to ratify CEDAW if it has not yet done so.

• Your country to withdraw any reservations it has placed on CEDAW (for example, refusing to be bound by articles which conflict with customary laws).

• Your government to bring laws into line with CEDAW if they have ratified it. That is, it should incorporate the human rights principles in CEDAW into domestic law.

• Your country to submit periodic reports to the treaty monitoring bodies on time.

• Your Section or Structure (or a coalition of organizations) to produce a shadow report to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on your country’s progress in preventing violence against women (see Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women, (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004), chapter 2).

• Your government to implement the recommendations by the treaty monitoring body following its review of your country’s periodic report.

• Your country to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, if it has not already done so.

• Your government to use the definitions of crimes and rules of procedure of the International Criminal Court as a model for domestic criminal law relating to violence against women. These definitions are sensitive to the needs and safety of victims and witnesses. (See Making Rights a Reality: The duty of states to address violence against women, (AI Index ACT 77/049/2004), chapter one.)

• Media coverage of the need for the government to pass new laws to protect women from violence. For example, at least 78 other countries need new laws to make domestic violence a crime. There are still some countries, which need laws to make rape within marriage a crime.

• Public campaigns to abolish laws that grant impunity to those using violence against women or that actively discriminate against women (applies to 54 countries).

• Remove discriminatory provisions in laws relating to forced marriage, wife inheritance, marital rape, consensual sex between adults and Female Genital Mutilation.

• Analyse the impact of domestic violence legislation and a develop plan of action.

Type B: Changes to policies and practices

You may also set campaign objectives that call for a change in official policies and practices, which do not require changes in the law. These may target the justice system, the police, the military and other national institutions.

Example objectives that you could adopt or adapt:

• Identify and bring to justice at least two perpetrators of violence against women in conflicts – for example in Israel/Occupied Territories, Iraq, Colombia or Algeria.

• Establish at least two supportive practices in law enforcement.

• Specialized medical treatment to be provided to every rape survivor in your country.

• Gender-sensitive training to be provided to all police and security officials in your country.

• All survivors to have access to effective treatment and redress, regardless of their identity. (Although violence against women is universal, many women are targeted for specific forms of violence because of particular aspects of their identity. Women are discriminated on the basis of their race, ethnicity, culture, language, sexual identity, poverty and health. Amnesty International has identified patterns of racial and ethnic discrimination in gender-based violence in a variety of situations. These include police ill-treatment of immigrant and ethnic minority women in Spain. See “There is no excuse”; Gender-based violence in the home and protection of the human rights of women in Spain (AI Spain, November 2003).

Type C: Stimulate public debate

Different countries will vary greatly in both their tolerance of violence against women and the level of public debate about women’s human rights and violence against women. All countries and cultures without exception could benefit from greater public debate and a higher level of awareness about gender-based discrimination and violence.

Stimulating this debate will create a positive environment in which to campaign for concrete legislative or policy change. In some countries, however, awareness raising may be an essential prerequisite to starting campaigns for legislative or social change. You may need first to challenge a tradition of cultural and social impunity for violence against women.

It may be realistic in your country to begin by setting objectives that aim to put violence against women on the public agenda and to raise awareness and change prejudices. You could then plan to campaign for concrete legislative change in the second phase of the campaign and use that as a means to continue your awareness raising. You should be sure to align this with your growth strategies, and to identify exactly when you plan to combine raising awareness activities with campaigning for concrete change.

Example objectives that you could adopt or adapt:

• Influence decision-makers in your country – for example, the judiciary, police, military, teachers – through running human rights education workshops that show how gender discrimination is used to deny women their human rights.

• Challenge cultural and social impunity for violence against women through media, education, and coalition building.

Type D: Strengthen Amnesty International’s capacity to work on violence against women

You may also need to set objectives to strengthen your section’s or structure’s capacity to work on violence against women. Building this capacity is identified as one of the overall and ongoing goals of the Stop Violence Against Women campaign.

Societal conditioning affects everyone. Male human rights activists may not be aware of how much societal constructions of gender have affected their approach to women’s human rights. Female human rights activists may not be aware of how their class, race or sexuality affects the way they view other women. The human rights education (HRE) workshop material included in this toolkit will be helpful in addressing these complex issues.

Your section or structure may also need to strengthen ties with organizations already working in the field, particularly women’s organizations but also other human rights organizations, religious leaders, social movements, development and humanitarian agencies.

Make sure that any internal objectives you set are aligned with your section or structure’s organizational strategy and also with the gender action plan developed by the International Secretariat as part of this campaign. For further information on the internal strategy for the Stop Violence Against Women campaign see Gender Action Plan (AI Index: POL 38/001/2003) and A Guide to Gender Action Planning (AI Index: ACT 77/039/2004).

Example objectives that you could adopt or adapt:

• Key activists to develop have skills to run HRE workshops with your own staff, volunteers and members to challenge their perception of gender.

• Section and structure staff to develop skills to deliver gender mainstreaming as an integral part of your section or structure’s work on human rights. For example, collect statistics on the percentage of cases in your country that involve women; and check that gender-based crime is included in the cases you raise with the International Secretariat.

• Develop guidelines in the first year of the campaign on gender-sensitive and culture-sensitive conduct of Amnesty International personnel in representational activities, and the use of language and images in Amnesty International research, fundraising, communication and campaign materials. For more detail on increasing gender equity within the section or structure, see Gender Action Plan (AI Index: POL 38/001/2003), and A Guide to Gender Action Planning (AI Index: ACT 77/039/2004).

• Identify, build alliances with, share joint platforms and issue joint statements with at least three other organizations working on violence against women in the first phase of the campaign.

Step Four: Identify target audiences and approaches

Once you have set objectives that are realistic and achievable for your country within a set timeframe, you need to identify your target audiences:

• Who has the power to make the changes that your objectives call for?

• Can you reach them directly? If not, who can?

• What is their current understanding of the legal situation and of the cultural construction of violence against women?

• What barriers or misconceptions do you need to address?

• What messages do you need to get across to inspire them to take the action you want?

You will need to identify the individual decision-makers themselves, such as:

• The Minister of Justice and other government Ministers.

• Army leaders responsible for the conduct and disciplining of soldiers.

• Professional groups, for example police officers, soldiers and other military personnel; lawyers and judges; teachers and educators; health workers and social workers.

You will also need to identify the people who influence the decision makers, such as:

• Civil servants.

• Journalists.

• International donors.

• Religious and community leaders.

• Amnesty International members and other individual activists.

Consider targeting non-traditional audiences for Amnesty International who are likely to be influential in ending violence against women, such as sports people or business people.

You will need to consider what channels to use to reach these targets and vary the products you produce to your audience.

When you know who your target audiences are and what motivates them, you can plan how to inspire them to make the changes you want. Remember that they will view the issue very differently from you. You must put yourself in their shoes and imagine what arguments or pressure will motivate them to make change. Is public pressure from the voters via the media and letter-writing campaigns going to force them to put the issue on the agenda? Will you need to show civil servants the benefits of enshrining international legal obligations in domestic law?

The influence map, chains of influence diagram and channels of influence, may be useful tools to help you identify your target audiences. An example of one is given below:

The Stop Violence Against Women campaign Communications Strategic Framework (AI Index ACT 77/027/2003), identifies generic target audiences for the campaign, many of which are likely to be appropriate in your country. It also discusses the campaign messages and tone, which your campaign could adopt or adapt.

Step Five: Identify the critical pathway

Your campaign should follow a logical pathway from one campaign activity to the next until you reach your objectives. A campaign is a trail, a series of steps. While some activities will coincide, you should plan to achieve one step before you start the next one, wherever possible.

When you have identified what change you need to see (the objectives), who can make it happen (your target audience) and what will influence them, you are ready to map out the campaign’s critical path. You will need to think about which activities should take place first to increase the chances of success of the later activities. You need to think creatively about opportunities to engage your members and activists in the campaign. The critical pathway will show a natural flow from raising awareness and laying seeds of ideas to increasing pressure on decision-makers from different directions all leading to a final push for change.

Remember that both Amnesty International and other NGOs can be catalysts for change but cannot themselves directly deliver either legislative change or substantive educational or other support measures on the ground that reach whole populations.

The critical pathway is a tool to help you identify how that change will happen and who will make it happen. It is important to set up milestones to help you monitor the effectiveness of your actions and to evaluate your success.

Where the government is strong, you can lobby government ministers and officials for the legislative and policy change needed to ensure that they meet their responsibilities as measured by the concept of due diligence. Where the government itself is weak, you may need to think laterally to find other ways to bring about change. For example, international corporations can be influential in countries where governments are weak. You may be able to achieve some changes through them, such as support for community-based advocacy projects, gender-sensitive conditions of work for the people they employ, or ongoing human rights education for large groups of people or opinion formers.

Example

You may start by identifying that your country has failed to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and has two key pieces of legislation that serve to perpetuate gender inequity or allow gendered violence to take place with impunity. In addition there is considerable violence against women in a local conflict but no perpetrators have been brought to justice.

Your objectives may be to:

• Persuade your government that your country should ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

• Remove or at least rework the legislation that perpetuates gender inequity.

• Obtain the commitment of military leaders to reduce violence against women in the conflict zone.

• Identify and bring to justice some of the perpetrators of violence in the conflict zone.

The critical pathway might look something like this:

1. Run awareness raising workshops for the relevant decision makers and those who influence them (civil servants, army officers, members of the judiciary).

2. Produce authoritative research on the national legislative situation, where it fails to meet international standards and the impact on people’s lives and human rights.

3. Submit this research as a shadow report to a human rights treaty body to coincide with their review of your country’s periodic report.

4. Mobilize the Amnesty International membership and other activists to write to the decision-makers calling for change.

5. Release the full research report at a media event held jointly with women’s organizations and other allies.

6. Publish your report on your section or structure’s website with an online petition and other actions.

7. Lobby decision-makers at face-to-face meetings, asking for a clear list of achievable demands, which they can grant directly.

8. Monitor and evaluate the impact of activities undertaken.

Campaigning is a dialogue with society; it needs to be systematic, but also flexible to respond to audiences and react to unexpected events. The critical pathway is a way of identifying the first steps in the ‘journey’. It is important to keep analysing the impact of your work to check if the critical pathway needs to change.

Step Six: Design campaign activities

Every separate campaign activity should have a place in the grid (see Step Four above), which shows how you will get your targets to act as you want them to. Posters, reports and other products are only meaningful and effective if they play a clear role in moving your objectives forward.

Remember also that the issue here is due diligence. Campaign activities should focus on the responsibility of government to reduce violence against women, rather than getting sidetracked onto other aspects of the issue. Violence against women is complex and has many causes and solutions. Keeping the focus on due diligence will strengthen your campaign and make it more likely to succeed.

Mobilizing the membership is traditionally a great strength of Amnesty International. You should plan your activities to involve your members and other local activists. They can engage in public campaigning activities as well as writing or e-mailing target groups, using for example, the individual action cases produced by the International Secretariat in the course of the Stop Violence Against Women campaign. You can also urge them to write to decision-makers about the specific legislative change you want to bring about in your country.

There is a wide range of other activities open to you. A campaign activity can be a demonstration, a letter or e-mail, a leaflet, an item of research, a web page, a media interview, a sponsored walk, a meeting with a politician, non-violent legal direct action, a petition, a vigil, and action appeal cases. All these have helped win campaigns.

Your campaign activities could include:

• Face-to-face activity: meetings, events, vigils and networking.

• Indirect communications: media interviews, briefing advocates, phone trees.

Examples of campaign activities

In April 2004, Amnesty International Sweden published a report on Men's violence against women in close relations: An outline of the situation in Sweden, which was presented at a media seminar with experts, members of Parliament, including the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice and NGOs. The launch of the report was covered by more than 80 newspapers and by national radio and television. On the same day, a campaigning activity was held in at least five cities. In Stockholm and Uppsala, there were “human installations” with women wearing white wedding dresses. Every fourth woman had black roses for her wedding bouquet and a black bridal veil representing violence in marriage. In Gothenburg and Lund, women’s rights groups and members collected hundreds of handprints on a huge white cloth.

The day after the launch of the report, a press release was issued by the Ministry of Justice, stating that a working group with representatives from four different ministries was being set up that very day. In the press release the Minister for Gender Equality Affairs, Mona Sahlin, stated that: “Amnesty’s report on men’s violence against women shows that the tightened laws concerning men’s violence against women are not implemented the way they should be. Many battered women are left with no support from society. This is unacceptable and we are going to change this.” Amnesty International was invited to meet the working group.

Amnesty International Canada has produced an online set of campaign tools for local activists to use. It is available at: http://www.amnesty.ca/stoptheviolence. It includes posters, brochures and action sheets for activists to distribute and display in offices, schools, community centres, shopping centres, libraries and police stations. It identifies action cases for activists to lobby decision-makers. A catalogue of ideas encourages activists to contact local media to raise the issue of violence against women; to organize candlelit vigils, silent marches, or parties to celebrate women’s human rights defenders; to create “violence-free” spaces; and to use street theatre and film to create public debate and display art works on the issue.

Amnesty International Nepal organized a talk program on “Women and Domestic Violence” for 100 students at Dhulabari Campus in the far eastern region of the country, near Bhutanese refugee camps.

Amnesty International UK has produced an activists’ pack that includes details of action appeal cases, postcards, posters, a summary report on violence against women in the UK and sample letters and press releases for activists to send to their local news media. Amnesty International UK ran an extensive consultation exercise with women’s groups working on domestic violence before planning their national campaign strategy. It also worked with these women’s groups in producing a shadow report to CEDAW.

Amnesty International Belgium has an online quiz to play that explores the issue of violence against women and some possible solutions.

A Turkish football team wore t-shirts showing the Stop Violence Against Women campaign logo for Amnesty International Turkey at a major football match. This is a good example of targeting a wider audience, particularly men, when campaigning.

In Mexico, a giant mural was painted honouring the missing and murdered women from Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua.

Communicating the issue

The steps outlined above should help you to map out how the campaign will be communicated to external and internal audiences and how to break down messages according to target audiences.

Next you need to choose the best medium for spreading your message, for example local papers, public meetings and the Internet. Base this decision on how the group that you are targeting accesses and absorbs information. Also bear in mind your resources and skills and what is the most cost-effective way to reach the target audience. You can try and develop partnerships with key media to obtain for example, regular slots on the radio and newspaper coverage of you actions.

The Stop Violence Against Women campaign Communications Strategic Framework (AI Index: ACT 77/027/2003) suggests that all your campaign communication activities should follow these guidelines:

• There should be a gender balance and cultural and regional balance in communications to reflect that violence against women is an important issue to everyone regardless of background.

• The tone of campaign materials should be positive about the possibility for change, respectful of survivors, and focus on the infrastructure that allows violence to occur rather than on shaming perpetrators.

• Language: be sensitive when choosing what words to use. Refer to women who have experienced violence as survivors not as victims.

• Images: choose empowering images that respect survivors’ dignity and show women as active.

• If working with spokespeople and celebrities, make sure they follow these guidelines themselves.

Key messages for the Stop Violence Against Women campaign are:

• Violence against women is a human rights scandal.

It is a hidden atrocity.

Living in safety is a universal right, not a privilege.

Human rights bring not only universality, but also justice, accountability and redress.

• The authorities must take responsibility.

The authorities must guarantee women’s safety.

• It’s in our hands – together we can end it

Stopping violence against women is about changing attitudes as well as laws.

• Ending violence against women is a personal as well as institutional responsibility.

The global logo for the campaign, reflecting the key message and slogans, is a handprint, which a number of sections and structures are using. It would be valuable if the communications aspect of your national campaign strategy reflected these global messages, providing mutual reinforcement for the work of sections and structures around the world.

You may also find it helpful to refer to Stop Violence Against Women: Glossary of Language and Guidelines on the use of Images (AI Index: ACT 77/056/2004). This document provides:

• Terminology with brief clarification of what is meant by some terms.

• Guidelines on the use of images.

Products

Identifying the appropriate products to use in your campaign comes last, as these must be related to your objectives, audience, influence, action, actors and so on. Products could include:

• A website.

• Leaflets.

• Posters.

• Postcards.

• Letters.

• A video.

• Radio spots.

• Regular newspaper articles.

• A play.

• Car stickers.

• Report.

Step Seven: Monitor and report back

It is important for all organizations to monitor and evaluate their work. Evaluation helps ensure that you are generating the results your effort deserves, and also generates good news to feed into your communications strategy. It is a good idea to evaluate your campaign periodically, for example at the end of each phase or milestone.

Amnesty International sections and structures working on this issue should monitor and report back to the International Secretariat what you are doing in your campaign, what has worked and what has been less successful. The International Secretariat will track the Stop Violence Against Women campaign globally, share lessons with other sections and structures and evaluate both country and global campaign projects.

To monitor your campaign, you will need to gather and record the following data:

• Did you do what you set out to do?

• Were the right objectives and activities chosen?

• Did you make a difference?

• What impact did the outcomes have on the target audience and on meeting the campaign objectives? (For example, was the law changed?)

• Where there unexpected outcomes?

• What other factors influenced the target?

Contact the Stop Violence Against Women team at the International Secretariat with your feedback and monitoring data.

Appendix I

Useful references for campaigning to end violence against women

Cheywa Spindel, Elisa Levy, Melissa Connor, 2000. With an End in Sight: Strategies from the UNIFEM Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence Against Women, UNIFEM, New York.

International Women’s Tribune Centre, “Women Moving Human Rights Centre Stage” in The Tribune: A Women and Development Quarterly, Newsletter 58, May 1999.

Transforming Communities, Instigate! An Online Toolkit for Community Mobilization [http://www.transformcommunities.org/tctatsite/instigate/contents.html].

United Nations (Division for the Advancement of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs), Commonwealth Secretariat and International Women’s Rights Action Watch, 2000. Assessing the Status of Women: A Guide to Reporting Under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

U.S. National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women and the Violence Against Women Office, Toolkit to End Violence Against Women [http://toolkit.ncjrs.org/].

Womankind Worldwide, 2002. What Works Where? Successful Strategies to End Violence Against Women.

Appendix II

Materials from AI UK Stop Violence Against Women campaign

1. Outline of the SVAW campaign

Summary paper – January 2003

This paper is a summary outlining where Amnesty International (AI) is on planning for the international campaign on violence against women. It outlines both the process envisaged for developing the campaign strategy, as well as potential themes/campaign goals that are currently being looked at. Whilst development of this strategy continues within AI’s International Secretariat, AI sections and structures in nearly 60 countries will be developing national level strategies in line with the goals mentioned in this paper.

a) Consultation process

Phase 1

AI has been developing plans for this campaign for about a year. In October 2002, AI invited a number of academics and activists from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas to a consultation meeting. The areas of expertise covered population movements, violence in the family/ community/ armed conflict, sexual and reproductive rights, as well as general gender and human rights concerns. This consultation meeting was an important opportunity to gain input at an early stage of the thinking for the campaign. The themes of violence against women in the family, and violence against women in armed/post conflict were highlighted, alongside potential campaign goals. The input from this consultation is reflected in the campaign plans to date.

Phase 2

AI sections and structures, including AIUK, are planning to link with women’s organisations and activists to share information and views on our plans so far. It is our aim that the strategy is developed in consultation, and that it supports and adds to the existing initiatives of women’s organisations. It is also hoped that the campaign itself will offer opportunities to work in partnership. In addition to gathering feedback on the international strategy, it is hoped that sections and structures will also start to develop campaign plans and identify potential projects within the consultation.

b) Campaign launch

It is intended for the campaign to launch globally on the 8 March 2004, International Women’s Day. AI usually chooses one country in which to launch the campaign worldwide – decisions on how and where to launch will be made at a later date. In addition to the international launch, AI sections and structures around the world carry out national level launches.

c) Basic principles behind the campaign

• The campaign will ensure a North/South balance – ensuring concerns are raised in wealthier Western countries as well as poorer Southern/Eastern parts of the world.

• Recognise violence against women as a universal phenomenon that affects women of all backgrounds and of every class, age, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual identity.

• Working in partnership with women’s organisations and women survivors/ human rights defenders.

• Working with both women and men as agents of change.

• Campaigning whilst recognising much needs to be done by AI to mainstream women’s human rights and gender in all aspects of AI’s work and organisational ‘culture’.

• The need to apply gender analysis to the causes and consequences of violence against women, and in our strategies for eradication – understanding that violence against women is a manifestation of the unequal power relationship between men and women based on social and cultural constructions of gender.

• Acknowledgement that control of women’s sexuality is a major cause of VAW.

d) Potential areas where AI could contribute

AI is a worldwide organisation with sections and membership structures in 60 countries. An important aspect of the consultation is to determine where AI might add to the existing work carried out by women’s organisations and activists. AI has skills in research, campaigning and lobbying for policy changes at national and international levels. With a worldwide membership of over one million, AI is able to demonstrate geographical balance, not just through research, but also through campaign activities. The following points highlight ideas on where AI could contribute skills and knowledge on eradicating violence against women.

• Pursuing states international obligation to exercise due diligence to protect and support women at risk, to promote public awareness and to bring perpetrators to justice.

• Encourage positive steps being taken by States and intergovernmental bodies to mainstream gender and women’s human rights in international and national human rights law and support initiatives to develop new standards to eradicate violence against women.

• Challenging and changing society’s attitudes and beliefs - an important task in creating a climate free of violence and one that values equality amongst individuals.

• Working towards ending impunity for gender-related crimes perpetrated by the State and by non-state actors.

• Promoting men’s involvement in eradicating VAW –More fundamental changes in power relations and men’s attitude and behaviour toward women are needed to create real impact on the lives of women. Men are expected to play out socially-constructed masculine roles and risk sanctions from their communities if they don’t comply - men could play a unique role in challenging society’s discriminatory and violence behaviour and attitudes toward women.

e) Proposed strategic goals

• To challenge discrimination against women – affirming the principles of universality, indivisibility and inter-dependence of human rights.

• To press for radically improved enforcement and further development of standards on ending impunity of non-state actors. (Abuses carried out by individuals/ groups of people carrying out abuses in the home/ community – not acting on behalf of the state.

• Due diligence – to establish irrevocably that states have responsibility under international law to exercise due diligence to punish perpetrators, protect women from violence and prevent violence at national and international levels.

• Promoting women’s human rights – to bring support to the building of a worldwide strategic platform around a shared vision of promoting women’s human rights and supporting the work of women’s groups/ individuals as human rights defenders.

• To mainstream women’s human rights in all of AI’s work and to develop AI’s internal capacities on gender, women’s rights and violence against women.

2 Consultation strategy for the SVAW campaign

1) Project:

The project involves identifying and consulting with leading organizations, groups and individuals in the UK covering issues on and related to violence against women. The consultation will include England, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with involvement from AI’s regional offices.

The project timeline is January – March 2003

Aims:

The consultation aims to:

• Notify key organisations and individuals of AI’s forthcoming theme campaign on violence against women.

• To share AI’s draft strategy for the campaign and to gather views and opinions.

• To identify key concerns on violence against women in the UK, and existing work/ projects being carried out .

• To identify potential areas of work/ research/ projects that AI could undertake either independently or in partnership/ as preparation for the campaign or as part of the campaign.

The consultation will have three phases involving: one to one meetings with a number of organisations and individuals, phone and email contact with others; collation of notes from the consultations and identifying gaps in information and contacts; and setting up an advisory group for on-going consultation and planning in relation to areas identified in the campaign strategy.

3. Planning for the SVAW campaign

Questions for consultation

Outline:

The consultation is to cover two main aims:

• To get feedback and input on how far we have got on the planning for the campaign/ the themes that have been identified, the potential campaign objectives, and on the perception of AI’s strengths etc.

• To start dialogue going as to how we can shape the campaign within the UK, including some initial thoughts on the key issues in the UK, and potential work areas for AI if appropriate.

1. Responses on work so far:

a) What do you think of the themes of VAW in the family/ armed conflict – do you think these reflect two critical areas? Are they relevant to the UK?

b) What about the draft goals – are they missing the point/too ambitious? Do they fit with the agenda of the wider women’s movement?

c) Will the approach on partnership working be welcome?

2. UK agenda:

a) What do you think are the key challenges facing VAW in the UK?

b) What are the emerging trends and issues?

c) What factors are causing an increase/ decrease?

d) Do you think it would be beneficial to the UK work if AI was to focus on international issues – or do you feel that we would need to ground our campaign within the UK agenda?

3. Issues:

a) If AI was to carry out work on the UK – what kind of projects / research would be of benefit to your work?

• Training and materials on human rights and VAW?

• Research on due diligence?

• Research on judicial system? – or is all this work being done?

b) What would you see AI’s role to be on VAW in the UK?

• Lending weight with our organizations name?

• Public awareness campaigning?

• Research?

• Drawing the links on human rights?

c) Where do you see as AI’s ‘added value’ to this campaign/ or our strengths?

d) AI is not a women’s organization – how do you perceive an organisation like AI, involving men and women activists, entering into campaigning on VAW issues?

4. Campaign methods:

a) Which types of barriers and obstacles are there in enforcing government’s international commitment at the national level?

b) In addressing VAW in the family, community and perpetrated by the state, what campaign strategies have worked well and what have failed?

c) Which issues (VAW in the family, community or by state) and what approaches? E.g. Capacity building, high profile campaigns etc) should AI adopt?

d) Should AI maintain its established VAW intervention (mainly custodial violence) or address cutting edge issues?

e) Should the AI focus be more on global statndard setting or at the local level?