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 ...
USA, Iowa - online seminar on new Firearms Bill 2010 (SF 2357)
The Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV) recently held two online seminars to explain the enforcement of the new Firearms Bill 2010 (SF 2357) which prohibits a person from possessing a firearm if they are subject to a civil domestic abuse protective order or have been convicted of a misdemeanour crime of domestic violence.
South Africa: Disarm killer cops
In South Africa, the organisation that oversees the police is so concerned about officers who kill their wives and girlfriends with their state-issued guns that it has recommended forcing policemen to leave their weapons at work.
USA: Disarm Domestic Violence update from Iowa
This is a brief update on progress from the state of Iowa in the USA.
Canada: Domestic deaths have a number of common links
Women’s groups from across the country insist that the gun registry is an essential tool in combating violence against women including armed domestic violence.
República Dominicana: Mujeres y armas de fuego en el hogar
El Instituto Caribeño para el Estado de Derecho (ICED) realizó una encuesta que muestra que el 42% de las mujeres víctimas de la violencia doméstica en la República Dominicana han sido amenazados con un arma de fuego.
Portugal: Main findings of “Violence and Small Arms: the Portuguese case” (2008-2010)
IANSA women from the Peace Studies Group (Centre for Social Studies, Coimbra University) and the Observatory on Gender and Armed Violence (OGAV) share their findings from a national survey undertaken between October 2009 and March 2010.
Uganda: Disarm Domestic Violence workshop
On 12 May 2010 during the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence, the Center for Conflict Resolution (CECORE) and East African Subregional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) organised a national workshop on armed domestic violence and the gender dimensions of armed violence.
Malawi: Government urged to review firearms laws
The Centre for Conflict Management and Women Development Affairs (CECOWDA) has urged government to take concrete steps to review and harmonise laws on firearms.
USA: Domestic Violence and Guns Brochure
In March 2010, Oregon's Firearms and Domestic Violence Task Force prepared a brochure 'Steps you can take if you are afraid your partner will use a firearm against you.'
Noya lends her voice to the campaign
Canadian singer Noya has given her song 'No' to the Disarm Domestic Violence campaign to empower other women, children and men who suffer from abuse. She hopes it it will inspire other women to say NO!
USA: Can men who like to beat women get to have guns?
On 3 May 2010, The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, joined by a coalition of national law enforcement and domestic violence groups, filed a “friend of the court” brief today in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit urging the Court not to expand the scope of the Second Amendment to allow domestic violence abusers to possess firearms.
Canada: Politicians are forgetting rural women
Outcry and national poll suggests Canadians and women in particular support gun registry.
Campaign materials now in Swahili and Lingala
Many thanks to IANSA women 'Femmes des Medias pour la Justice au Congo' in the DRC for taking the initiative to translate Disarm Domestic Violence campaign materials into Lingala and Swahili.
Spain: Campaign launch in Lloret de Mar
The Platform per la Pau Lloret in Catalunya are launching the Disarm Domestic Violence campaign on 23 April 2010.
Argentina: The campaign goes to the end of the world
In Ushuia, the southernmost city in the world, more than 90 women community leaders, government officials, journalists and students participated in an event to support the Disarm Domestic Violence campaign on 29 March 2010 organised by the Asociación para Políticas Públicas (APP) and Ushuaia Parliament, with the support of the IANSA Women’s Network.
International: IANSA members use amicus briefs to influence court decisions
This 'amicus brief' by The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence was submitted in a US Supreme Court case in 2008. Such a strategy could be useful for other IANSA members working on the Disarm Domestic Violence campaign in other countries.
USA: An Open Letter to the El Dorado Sheriff’s Department and the El Dorado District Attorney’s Office Regarding Domestic Violence Victim Cecilia Riveria
This open letter highlights how armed domestic violence is a public health epidemic in California and how a new bill AB 962 (DeLeon) could help victims of domestic violence by regulating the sale of handgun ammunition.
Serbia: Small arms and domestic violence: how to avoid lethal consequences?
On 8 March 2010 the Victimology Society of Serbia organised a national roundtable in Belgrade to focus public attention on the use of small arms by perpetrators of domestic violence.
USA: Changing the law was top priority for Attorney General in Iowa
A new law requires that anyone convicted of domestic abuse and anyone who is listed on a no-contact order cannot own or sell guns. It will strengthen a federal firearms ban that is already in effect by giving local law enforcement officials more authority to collect guns.
AP volunteer blasts gun violence against women at UN CSW
A volunteer of the Advocacy Project (AP) has used the setting of a major UN meeting, the Commission on the Status of Women, to denounce the horrific damage caused by gun violence against women and girls within families.
Canada: Just the Facts: Reducing Domestic Homicide
For International Women's Day, The Coalition for Gun Control present the facts on reducing domestic violence. Women’s groups from across the country insist that the firearms law is an essential tool in combating violence against women.
USA: Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence - Call to Back Firearms Bill 2010 (SF 2357)
This legislation is of critical importance to save women’s lives because firearms are the most commonly used method in domestic abuse related murders. According to the Death Review Executive Summary, 63.7% of domestic violence related deaths in 2007-2008 were caused by firearms. The Iowa Attorney General's Crime Victim Assistance Division reports that 108 Iowans have been killed by firearms in domestic violence murders since 1995.
USA: Domestic Violence Risk Assessment Bench Guide
This Guide uses the work of various researchers who have developed lethality and reoffense assessment tools. It contains a list of eleven questions focusing on risk factors, and questions include; "Does alleged perpetrator have access to a firearm?"
Switzerland: Safer without arms
Women in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, raised awareness about the dangers of guns in the home through a street performance during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence on 10 December 2009.
UK: Raising awareness of the dangers of guns in the home
The Infer Trust, a national registered charity raising awareness of the problems associated with gun misuse involving both legally and illegally held guns, is providing advice, support and networking opportunities for those affected by gun violence including armed domestic violence.
Namibia: Deputy Prime Minister calls for stricter controls
The campaign is raising awareness at high levels in Namibia. During a Parliamentary debate on the Draft Defence Policy on 11 February 2010, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertina Amathila said that the issuing of firearm licences should be stricter, because of reports of women being shot by their boyfriends or husbands.
Colombia: Widespread support in Cali and Bogotá
15,000 signatures in support of the Disarm Domestic Violence campaign were collected in November 2009. Proposals were also put to Congress about regulating the possession of firearms by those with a history of domestic violence.
Argentina: Women account for over 50% of gun deaths
Between 1997 and 2005, women accounted for 58% of homicides and 24.9% of suicides that were committed with firearms.
Malawi: Survey results - 20% of women experienced armed domestic violence
The Centre for Conflict Management and Women Development Affairs (CECOWDA) in conjunction with Peoples Federation for National Peace and Development (PEFENAP) completed a small survey in September 2009.
Campaign highlights from The Advocacy Project, 2009
Summaries from: 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).
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.
Sierra Leone: High level seminar
The Sierra Leone Action Network on Small Arms (SLANSA) held a seminar for Members of Parliament and civil society and called upon the government to harmonise gun and domestic violence laws.
Campaign Bulletin, July 2009
Campaign aims and objectives, and how to get involved.
USA: Bureau of Justice Statistics on Domestic Violence and firearms
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) indicates that although firearms are used in a relatively small percentage of domestic violence incidents, when a firearm is present, domestic violence can and all too often turns into domestic homicide.
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.
USA: Arming Domestic Abusers
Based on a study of a representative sample of domestic violence protective orders issued in one year in Iowa, researchers estimated that judges failed to enforce federal law prohibiting possession of firearms by domestic violence offenders in approximately 72 percent of the orders (1,800/2,500).
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.
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.