Worldwide scandal

Violence against women is the greatest human rights scandal of our times.

“I really don’t know what it was that evening that made me decide to call the police, but I always say it was the sight of cleaning up my own blood.” Lorraine, a British woman, was regularly beaten by her partner for eight years before telling anybody. “People have asked me why I didn’t just leave, but …. I was very, very frightened of him. So you get to the point where you live with it, it becomes a normal pattern of life, you adapt, you cope, you hide it.” In the UK, emergency services receive an average of one call per minute about violence in the family.

From birth to death, in times of peace as well as war, women face discrimination and violence at the hands of the state, the community and the family.

At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in her lifetime. This figure comes from a study based on 50 surveys from around the world.
More than 60 million women are “missing” from the world today as a result of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide.
Every year, millions of women are raped by partners, relatives, friends and strangers, by employers and colleagues, soldiers and members of armed groups.
Violence in the family is endemic all over the world; the overwhelming majority of victims are women and girls. In the USA, for example, women account for around 85 per cent of the victims of domestic violence.
The World Health Organization has reported that up to 70 per cent of female murder victims are killed by their male partners.
Small arms and light weapons are the main tools of almost every conflict. Women and children account for nearly 80% of the casualties, according to the UN Secretary-General.
Resistance

All over the world, women have led brave and inspiring campaigns against this violence. They have achieved dramatic changes in laws, policies and practices.

But the violence persists.

With the Stop Violence Against Women campaign, Amnesty International is joining the struggle.

Take action now. It’s in our hands. Stop Violence against Women.

Find out more about violence against women:
What is violence against women?
Who suffers?
Why does it persist?
Sexuality and violence
Culture community and violence
Poverty and violence

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