A Voice For the Voiceless

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The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Women on the March as Global Action Week Targets Gun Violence, June 6, 2008

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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 142
June 6, 2008
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Port of Spain, Trinidad: At the Russell Latapy Secondary School in Trinidad, Principal Tarran Bhaggan estimates that 90 percent of students have seen or been touched by armed violence. In El Salvador, advocacy groups point out that 80 percent of murdered women are shot by their partners.

These are just two of the countries suffering from gun violence. Both are squarely in the sights of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), a global network of organizations that campaigns against gun-related violence.

This week, citizens in 70 countries around the world are exposing the human cost of guns and demanding stronger regulation of the global arms trade during IANSA's Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence, which runs through Sunday (June 8).

"Worldwide, a thousand people die every day from gunshots, and three times as many are severely injured," said Sarah Masters, IANSA's Women's Network Coordinator. "If 1,000 people a day were dying from a global epidemic of bird flu, the world would sit up and take notice."

Teenagers at Russell Latapy have decided to fight back by establishing a violence-free "Peace Zone" at their school, with help from the Women's Institute for Alternative Development (WINAD). WINAD, a partner of The Advocacy Project and member of IANSA's global network, organized a workshop at the school earlier this week.

"People are fearing to leave their houses more and more," said Merlissa Bruce, a 14-year-old student at the school who is working on the Peace Zone. She worries that people will become "locked up like vampires" - forced to stay inside because of the violence.

Ms Masters said IANSA members are being encouraged to make women's issues part of their activism this year — especially the problem of guns in the home.

Although men account for most gun casualties, a woman is 12 times more likely to die from domestic violence when a gun is kept in the home. In countries at war, women become the primary breadwinners and take care of displaced families when male relatives are killed or disabled by gun violence.

In El Salvador, the women's group Cemujer has launched a campaign - "No more arms, no more women homicides" - that seeks to close a legal loophole allowing those with histories of domestic violence to own guns. Cemujer members hosted a press conference and marched through San Salvador Tuesday (June 3) carrying banners.

Last year's Week of Action mobilized thousands of activists behind the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which seeks to prevent the transfer of weapons to states that violate human rights. More than a hundred governments called for the treaty to be strengthened.

This year IANSA is calling for a moratorium on the transfer of weapons to Zimbabwe, embroiled in political violence in advance of a June 27 presidential runoff election.

IANSA Director Rebecca Peters said this year's Week of Action has garnered record participation on a host of issues across the globe. "Members have been active in their national parliaments, conducting interviews on TV stations and holding seminars in classrooms and universities," she said.

"There have been drawing competitions, peace marches and photography exhibitions — the breadth of imagination and commitment is truly impressive."

Jennifer Scott, an AP Peace Fellow, will help WINAD and the students of Russell Latapy to open the school's new Peace Zone. Peace Fellow Crissie Ferrara will be volunteering in El Salvador with Cemujer this summer.

• Read the blogs of Peace Fellows Jennifer Scott and Crissie Ferrara. 
• Learn more about IANSA's Global Week of Action.