This month we had the pleasure of spending a weekend at the Amnesty International headquarters in London along with hundreds of other inspired students from across the country campaigning to defend human rights.
We were all given the chance to attend a number of insightful workshops on issues across the world such as preventing sexual violence, the current conflict in Syria, Israel and Palestine and, the My Body My Rights campaign. It was incredible to be at an event where everyone was so passionate about human rights. Those of us who attended came back with lots of ideas for spreading the word about Amnesty and human rights on our campus.
My body my rights: It’s your body! Know your rights
150 million girls under the age of 18 are estimated to have experienced some form of sexual violence. 50% of these sexual assaults are experienced by girls under 16.
My Body, My Rights campaign focuses on control and criminalisation of reproduction, people should be empowered to make free and informed choice about their sexuality and reproduction. This campaign really spoke to us. Our bodies, our health and sexual life are the only thing we have control over and the only thing we can make decisions about. Yet, all over the world, many women are persecuted from making these choices or prevented from doing so at all.
One of the key issues regarding this campaign is in relation to abortion which has always been a very controversial and taboo subject. Amnesty’s policy on abortion is that women who seek an abortion and health professionals who provide abortions should be decriminalised. Women should have access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, if the life and health of the woman is at risk and in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. During the workshop we attended, discussions took place in regards to the strands of the My Body, My Rights campaign. The general motto was to campaign for better implementation of international standards and commitments and campaigning for concrete changes in people’s lives in five specific target countries: Nepal, El Salvador, Northern Ireland, Burkina Faso and North Africa (Maghreb).
Briefly mentioning the issue in some of these countries:
Every year, thousands of women and girls are denied their human rights by El Salvador’s total ban on abortion. In Burkina Faso, women do not have much control over their sexual health and need to be accompanied by their husbands in order to be given any form of contraception.
In Northern Ireland women often face life in prison for having an abortion. Strict Catholic laws only allow abortion for ‘highly exceptional circumstances’. This does not include rape. Hearing Mara Clarke talk about how women buy unsafe, illegal abortion pills on the internet because their a) desperate and b) can’t afford to travel the European mainland for private abortion really hit home.
How to prevent sexual violence
The second workshop we took part in was preventing sexual violence, specifically the UK taking the lead by introducing the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative this summer launched by William Hague and Angelina Jolie.
Across the world at least one woman in every three has been beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime. Sexual violence devastates the lives of millions of women globally and often nothing is done within these communities. This initiative is working on addressing this problem by developing an International Protocol on how sexual violence should be documented and investigated in conflict particularly countries in like Syria or the Democratic Republic of Congo. This will help support the evidence and information used for future prosecutions.
The Initiative also aims to strengthen international efforts and co-ordination to prevent and respond to sexual violence; and by supporting countries.
In Sir Lanka for example, a woman was raped by Sir Lankan soldiers while held in a detention centre. In Somalia a young woman raped by seven men has little access to justice and knows little about her own rights. Whereas in Syria, since the start of the unrest, horrific reports of sexual violence are told by those women being detained for protesting.
However, we’re all aware that sexual violence is not just something that happens in conflict but right here in the UK. Recently, women’s rights activists throughout the country have brought to light to the barbaric issue of Female genital mutilation. Every year thousands of young girls as young as 10 are sent overseas to undergo a procedure which involves the removal of part or all of the external female genitalia.
We make these points because we believe that everyone needs to take part in the effort to reduce violence against women and girls. Often, violence particularly in conflict zones like these is rooted in a global culture of discrimination where women’s equal rights with their counterparts are denied. This legitimizes and reinforces the appropriation of women and their bodies being used and abused.
These are all human rights violations so why aren’t there more of us defending those who can’t defend their rights? Act now.
On a less serious note we had a great weekend mostly dancing. But one of our favourite moments was spending our Saturday afternoon on the streets of Shoreditch collecting 2000 petitions to stop torture equipment trading through the EU. GO Amnesty students across the country!
By Yasmin Adan and Kordu Jallow
Leicester University Amnesty Group 