The first international campaign to protect women from gun violence in the home.
Perhaps most shockingly, the greatest risk of gun violence to women around the world is not on the streets, or the battlefield, but in their own homes. Women are three times more likely to die violently if there is a gun in the house. Usually the perpetrator is a spouse or partner, often with a prior record of domestic abuse. Gun violence can be part of the cycle of intimidation and aggression that many women experience from an intimate partner. For every woman killed or physically injured by firearms, many more are threatened. This is why IANSA has launched a campaign to demand policies which would keep women safe from gun violence.
Campaign Aims and Objectives
The main goal is to ensure that anyone with a history of domestic abuse is denied access to a firearm, and has their license revoked.
Progress so far ...
Disarm Domestic Violence: Key initial findings, October 2009
The results from the first seven countries illustrate why the campaign is so important. They show a worrying pattern, in which guns are routinely used to threaten, intimidate and facilitate violence against women in the home.
USA: Disarm Domestic Violence: A matter of life or death
This briefing on the US context was used during Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October 2009) in the USA.
South Africa: Disarm Domestic Violence - Submission to Parliament
In October 2009, IANSA women from Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre (TLAC) and the Ceasefire Campaign submitted a joint submission to the South African Parliament on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) relating to firearms.
Canada: The situation in Canada
This paper, published in the Autumn 2009 edition of the Ploughshares Monitor, summarises the Canadian context.
Canada: Plea to resist the relaxation of Canada's gun laws
An open letter from The Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women (OCTEVAW) to David J. McGunity, the MP for Ottawa South, to urge him to work to meet international obligations to protect women and children from gun violence by resisting efforts to relax Canada’s gun laws.
Submissions to the UN Commission on the Status of Women
In August 2009 IANSA members from Argentina, Colombia, Namibia and Portugal submitted communications to the UN Commission on the Status of Women to highlight how armed domestic violence fundamentally affects women's human rights.
Argentina: Submission to CEDAW on armed domestic violence
IANSA members Asociación para Políticas Públicas (APP) submitted a list of critical issues in relation to armed domestic violence to the CEDAW Committee to raise with the government of Argentina which was reporting at the 46th CEDAW session, 10-14 August 2009.
Campaign Bulletin, July 2009
Campaign aims and objectives, and how to get involved.
Namibia: Easier to be banned from driving than to be banned from possessing a firearm
Pauline Dempers writes about the global campaign and the system in Namibia.
UN Good practices in legislation on violence against women
This expert report includes a recommendation in relation to protection orders and firearms.
Support from The Advocacy Project
Advocacy Project (AP) Peace Fellows worked with some IANSA members during the summer of 2009 to assist with the campaign. Their blogs make very interesting reading, and be sure to watch some of the short films they produced over the summer. Countries/organisations included: Argentina: Asociación para Politicas Públicas; Canada: Project Ploughshares; Colombia: Colectivo Mujeres Pazificas; Namibia: Breaking the Wall of Silence; Nepal: SAP Nepal; Portugal: Centre for Peace Studies/Observatory on Gender and Armed Violence; Serbia: Victimology Society of Serbia; and Uganda: The Centre for Conflict Resolution (CECORE).
The Campaign launches worldwide!
The campaign begins during the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence (15-21 June 2009) with over 30 launch events around the world.