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| 05 Apr 2008 - 22:37 | CalCASA
URL: www.calcasa.org/256.0.html
| The 2008 edition of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s Report on Research on Rape and Violence, CALCASA's annual compendium of statistics and research on sexual assault and other forms of community violence is now available on our website for viewing and downloading.
To access the Report, please visit our website using the link below.
http://www.calcasa.org/256.0.html
Kecia A. Bailey, MLIS
Director of Library and Information Services
California Coalition Against Sexual Assault
1215 K Street, Suite 1100
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-446-2520 ext 316
916-446-8166
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| 05 Apr 2008 - 22:34 | Sarah
toftes@hrw.org
URL: www.hrw.org
|
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is writing a report on how rape-kits are
treated by the criminal justice system, including: the backlog and
destruction of rape-kits, the fact that some women have to pay for all
or part of the rape kit collection process, and other
access-to-rape-kit-concerns.
The HRW report will be based on testimonials of survivors of rape and
their experience having a rape kit taken, processed, tested, backlogged, or destroyed. The report will also be based on testimonials from experts in the field who can talk about concerns they have about the rape kit problem. We are looking for testimonials that illuminate the
problem, as well as highlight some states or cities or crime labs that
have developed best practices in the collection and testing of rape
kits.
In short, we would like to hear from you. We can keep your identity
confidential if necessary. We just need to hear your stories.
Please contact Sarah, at toftes@hrw.org, or 212.377.9408. If you want
to see the kind of work HRW does, please go to hrw.org.
Take care,
Sarah
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| 04 Apr 2008 - 15:29 | cimac
URL: www.cimacnoticias.com/site/08040313-Bala . . .
| La sociedad ha logrado convivir con el aborto legal, GIRE
Balance favorable a un año de la despenalización del aborto en la Ciudad de México
Por Lourdes Godínez Leal
México DF, 3 abril 08 (CIMAC).- Pese a que ahora se discute su constitucionalidad, a un año de aprobada la ley que permite la interrupción legal del embarazo (ILE) en la Ciudad de México hasta las doce semanas de gestación, el balance es favorable.
Así lo señalo María Luisa Sánchez Fuentes, directora del Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE), al participar en la mesa de discusión Aborto y Derechos de las Mujeres: A un año de la despenalización convocada por el Programa Universitario de Estudios de Género (PUEG).
La feminista destacó que en este tiempo la sociedad ha logrado “convivir con el aborto legal”, pese a la iglesia católica y a los grupos conservadores.
También enfatizó que a un año la aplicación de la Ley se hizo efectiva con todas “las dificultades” a las que se ha enfrentado la Secretaria de Salud (SS), como los médicos objetores de conciencia, además de logar que los 14 hospitales del sector salud capitalino brinden los servicios a las mujeres que lo soliciten.
Otro aspecto positivo de la Ley es que a partir de la legalización se cuenta con cifras precisas y se tendrán registros de estos hechos que permiten conocer quienes (mujeres) están usando los servicios de salud.
Al respecto, la directora de GIRE precisó que desde abril de 2007 al primer trimestre de este año 6 mil 499 mujeres han hecho suyo este derecho al solicitar una ILE; 13 mil mujeres han tenido acceso a información y consejería; más del 80 por ciento son católicas; 16 por ciento estudiantes; 29 por ciento empleadas, y 38 por ciento amas de casa.
MAS...
http://www.cimacnoticias.com/site/08040313-Balance-favorable-a.32656.0.html
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| 04 Apr 2008 - 15:08 | Marisol at California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
marisol.clrj@gmail.com
|
Support Accurate, Comprehensive Sexual Health Education For California's Charter School Students!
Please join us in supporting SB 1600 to ensure all California students have equal access to quality sexual health education!!! SB 1600 (Kuehl) ensures that charter
schools teaching sexual health education provide students with medically accurate, unbiased, and comprehensive instruction to promote the health and well-being of our youth. California's charter school students deserve access to the same quality standards in sexual health education that is provided to other California public
school students.
Please take action now! SB 1600 is being heard in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, April 16th. ...
Please don't hesitate to contact Rocio Cordoba or Marisol Franco at CLRJ if you have any questions.
All the best,
The California Latinas for Reproductive Justice Team
Your voice matters!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* FAX a letter of support by 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, to Senator
Sheila Kuehl, the bill author, at (916) 324-4823, and fax a copy to Senator Jack Scott, Chair of the Senate Education Committee, at (916) 445-7799.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What does SB 1600 do?
* Instruction and materials must be medically accurate, science-based and objective;
* Instruction and materials must be age-appropriate;
* Instruction and materials must be unbiased and appropriate for students of all races, genders, ethnicities and sexual
orientations;
* Instruction and materials must be accessible to students with disabilities and English Language Learner students;
* Teachers must be appropriately trained;
* Classes in grades 7-12 must include information about both abstinence and all FDA-approved methods for
preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
RESEARCH SHOWS:
A study just published in the April 2008 Journal of Adolescent Health found that students who received comprehensive sexual health education were half as likely to become pregnant as compared to students who received abstinence-only education and 40% as likely to become pregnant as those students who received no sexual health education at all. Research also consistently shows strong parental support for comprehensive sexual health education. A 2007 poll of California parents conducted by the Public Health Institute found 89% support for comprehensive sexual health education, which remained consistent across all demographic groups and geographic areas of the state.
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| 04 Apr 2008 - 11:43 | Erika Lopez
URL: peace.sandiego.edu/
|
Now Accepting Applications for the 2008 Women PeaceMakers Program
Application Deadline: May 23, 2008
The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice (IPJ) in San Diego,
California, is currently accepting applications for its Women PeaceMakers Program (WPM). The WPM program is designed for leaders from conflict-affected countries around the world who are transforming conflict and assuring gender-inclusion in post conflict recovery through in human rights advocacy and peace building efforts they lead. These are women whose stories and best practices will be shared internationally; they are women who will have a respite from the frontlines work they do.
Four Women PeaceMakers are selected each year to spend two months in residence at the Institute. They will receive a small stipend while having their unique peacemaking stories documented, through both film and
narratives that will be available to inspire others around the world. Women PeaceMakers in residence will have the opportunity to engage with the community through a series of public panels and to meet with other activists and leaders involved in human rights, political action and peacemaking efforts.
The institute is also accepting applications for Peace Writers. Peace Writers document the stories of Women PeaceMakers for publication. Writers will interview the Women and engage in extensive research to become familiar
with the histories of their conflicts and peacemaking efforts.
For more information about the program and an application please visit the IPJ web site at http://peace.sandiego.edu <http://peace.sandiego.edu/> or
contact Erika Lopez, Women PeaceMakers Program Officer, at
erika.lopez@...
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| 04 Apr 2008 - 10:23 | Women Make Movies
URL: www.wmm.com
| THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO
* * NATIONAL BROADCAST PREMIERE *
* * HBO | APRIL 8 | 10 PM *
* "[A] documentary of the highest calling."
* - The Hollywood Reporter
*
* "Breaks open the terrorizing story of rape and atrocity...Bravely documents what happens to women in war."
* - Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues
*
* Women Make Movies is proud to announce the highly anticipated premiere of Sundance Special Jury Prize in Documentary winner THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO by Emmy® Award-winning director Lisa F. Jackson. The acclaimed documentary premieres on HBO at 10pm on April 8.
*
* Watch the Trailer here:
http://thegreatestsilence.org/trailer.html
* ====================
* ABOUT THE FILM
* ====================
*
* Shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this extraordinary film shatters the silence that surrounds the shocking plight of women and girls who, caught in this country's intractable conflict, are being systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army.
* Learn more about the film here: http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c70 9.shtml
*
* ***********************
* HELP SPREAD THE WORD!
* ***********************
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| 03 Apr 2008 - 10:17 | admin
URL: www.nodo50.org/mujeresred/spip.php?artic . . .
|
Mujeres Contra El Capital
y mas videos feministas
www.nodo50.org/mujeresred/sp ip.php?article1421
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| 02 Apr 2008 - 18:00 | Carolina Ruiz Torres
carolina@flora.org.pe
|
24 HORAS AL DÍA ATENDERÁN DENUNCIAS DE
VIOLENCIA SEXUAL Y FAMILIAR
Centros de Emergencia Mujer de Lima, Callao y Villa el Salvador amplían horario y atenderán los 365 días del año
A fin de atender y brindar mayor protección a las víctimas de violencia sexual y familiar, el Ministerio de la Mujer y Desarrollo Social, ampliará desde mañana un nuevo horario de atención de los Centros de Emergencia Mujer
(CEM) durante las 24 horas del día y los 365 días del año, que funcionará inicialmente en los distritos de Lima, Callao, y Villa el Salvador.
El MIMDES reforzará este servicio para que la población más vulnerable, en este caso niños, niñas, adolescentes, varones y mujeres que son víctimas de
violencia sexual y familiar, se beneficien con los servicios gratuitos de orientación legal, defensa judicial, y consejería psicológica que se brinda
a través de los CEMs.
La ampliación del horario de atención, busca además disminuir los índices de violencia sexual y familiar que se presentan cada año, ejecutando acciones
de atención que eviten el crecimiento de casos de violencia que se suceden en nuestra sociedad.
Los CEMs que inicialmente ampliarán su horario de atención son: CEM de Villa el Salvador, ubicado en la Av. César Vallejo cdra. 8 - Sector 2; CEM de
Cercado de Lima, ubicado en la Sede Principal del MIMDES en el Jr. Camaná 616; CEM de Callao, situado en la Av. Saenz Peña cdra. 2 (dentro de la Comisaría de Mujeres del Callao).
Acciones Integrales contra la violencia en los hogares
El MIMDES, a través de la Dirección de Violencia Familiar y Sexual, trabaja intensamente para combatir la violencia en los hogares peruanos. Ha realizado el pasado viernes 28, la campaña nacional “Casa por Casa -
Venciendo la Violencia Familiar”, donde se visitaron un total de 5 mil
hogares en todo el país. Asimismo, se llevó a cabo durante la última semana de marzo, la “Caravana Amiga” en los distritos de Callao, Cercado de Lima y Villa el Salvador.
Según las estadísticas elaboradas por el CEM desde el año 2002, el distrito de Callao ha reportado 5% de denuncias por violencia sexual y 95% de violencia familiar; asimismo, en el caso de Villa el Salvador, se ha presentado un total de 7% de denuncias por violencia sexual, y 93% de violencia familiar. Por último, en el CEM del Cercado de Lima, 8% ha denunciado ser víctima de violencia sexual, mientras el 92% ha denunciado ser víctima de violencia familiar.
Las víctimas de violencia pueden acudir a los servicios gratuitos que brinda el MIMDES, como los Centro Emergencia Mujer (CEM) que suman un total de 69 a nivel nacional, los Centro Integral de Atención para Agresores (CAI),
Línea 100, y Línea 0-800-16-800.
Lima, 31 de marzo de 2008
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| 02 Apr 2008 - 10:34 | Center for Women's Global Leadership
URL: www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/p . . .
| Claiming Rights, Claiming Justice
A Guidebook on Women Human Rights Defenders
Foreword
This guidebook, Claiming Rights, Claiming Justice: A Guidebook on
Women Human Rights Defenders, is an important initiative to
acknowledge the valuable contribution of women human rights
defenders in the promotion and protection of human rights, and to
empower them further in their role as defenders. It builds on the
achievements of women human rights defenders, including those
attained in the framework of the three-year international campaign
on women human rights defenders.
In my work as UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, I consistently reiterated that women defenders are more at risk of certain forms of
violence and restrictions, and become more vulnerable to prejudices, exclusion and public repudiation by state forces and social actors especially when engaged in the defence of women’s rights. This is particularly true when they are perceived to defy cultural
norms and social constructs on gender, sexuality and femininity, or
when they challenge social structures vested in economic interest or traditional practices.
Since the establishment of my mandate in 2000, I acted on over
450 cases of violations of women human rights defenders concerning more than 1,300 defenders. Over 40 of them were killed in connection with their human rights work. This is the tip of the iceberg of the human rights violations perpetrated against women defenders. It tells us how imperative it is to devise new protection mechanisms and strengthen existing ones to provide women human rights defenders with a secure environment for their work.
This guidebook is an important contribution to that end. By giving
visibility to the role of women defenders in the promotion and
protection of human rights, the guidebook contributes to the
recognition of their work as human rights work. By looking at the
specific types of human rights violations affecting women defenders because of their gender, the guidebook enhances understanding and awareness of the challenges faced by women defenders and serves as a tool to advocate for protection, redress and compensation
measures.
I have repeatedly emphasised that there is no better protection for
women human rights defenders than the strength and support of
their own movements. I am therefore proud to introduce this tool
made by women defenders and hope that this will be widely used
by the women and men who are striving globally for the protection
and promotion of human rights.
A Guidebook on Women Human Rights Defenders
I thank APWLD and the many organisations that contributed to
make women defenders and their work more visible and brought
this guidebook to completion.
Hina Jilani
UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders
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| 02 Apr 2008 - 09:28 | “I´m strong enough!”
ms@iamstrong.org.ua
URL: www.iamstrong.org.ua
|
(ms@iamstrong.org.ua)
+38 044 4932595 (Phone)
The Civil Initiative I`m strong enough! (Kyiv, Ukraine)is pleased to invite you to attend the seminar dedicated to gender discrimination during legal procedures on divorce in Ukraine. The seminar will take place in Kyiv, on May 13th.
*
* Our organization is helping Ukrainian women who are going through a complicated divorce process. We provide them with legal and psycoligical assistence and moral support. We also closely cooperate with our national partner Kyiv Center for Work with Women, organization aimed to help women in case of domestic violence.
*
* Currently we are working on the organization of our first seminar, dedicated to gender discrimination during legal procedures on divorce in Ukraine. The seminar “How to become strong” will take place in Kyiv, on May 13th.
*
* The seminar will be attended by the Ukrainian attorney, specializing in family law; the psychologist, working with women going through a divorce; the representative of our national partner - Kyiv Center for Work with Women. The audience will consist of the Ukrainian women, who had experienced a complicated divorce process. Representatives of the Ukrainian media will also be invited.
*
* We will highly appreciate the experience of women organization from USA and Europe, where the gender equality and democracy are strongly valued by the society and supported by public organizations.
*
* We believe that your participation in our seminar will provide you with an experience, based on the specific examples and practice from the developing country, and may lead to a number of mutually beneficial projects if the interest arises. We strongly believe that your attendance will contribute into improvement of the existing situation, related to a divorce in our country, and help Ukrainian women in achieving the gender equality at all levels of their life. We will be very glad to meet you in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and conduct the excursion tour of the city upon your request.
*
* To receive the seminar program please don’t hesitate to contact Ms. Maryna Skomorokhova, Seminar Coordinator, via email:
* ms[at]iamstrong.org.ua
* or via phone:+38 044 4932595
* For the additional information about the initiative, work conducted, and current activities please visit the organization’s website at: www.iamstrong.org.ua.
*
* Sincerely yours,
* Margarita Chervonenko,
* Head of the Civil Initiative “I´m strong enough!”
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| 01 Apr 2008 - 11:15 | Boletin e-leusis
URL: www.e-leusis.net/
| from Boletin e-leusis
Las mujeres maltratadas en España tardan ocho años en denunciar a sus
31/03/2008VMT -Las mujeres que sufren la violencia machista son el único tipo de víctima que oculta las agresiones a las que es sometida
Las mujeres víctimas de malos tratos tardan una media de ocho años en denunciar a su parejas o ex parejas sentimentales, según señaló hoy la secretaria general de Políticas de Igualdad, Soledad Murillo, quien agregó que la violencia machista "no empieza con golpes o amenazas", sino con un "exhaustivo control" de la vida de la mujer.
Durante la inauguración de un curso de formación sobre violencia de género organizado por el Consejo General de la Abogacía Español (CGAE), Murillo afirmó que estas mujeres "demoran permanentemente" interponer la denuncia porque sienten que están siendo "desleales" a su marido.
Según explicó, las mujeres que sufren la violencia machista son el único tipo de víctima que oculta las agresiones a las que es sometida y, además, "rehabilita al agresor y se siente culpable por recibir la agresión".
Así, la mujer, por desgracia, "atrasa permanentemente darle a la agresión la entidad que se merece" y, por tanto, no toma "medidas que pongan su vida a salvo". Del mismo modo, la responsable de Igualdad del Gobierno señaló que el 45 por ciento de las víctimas de la violencia machista muere en el momento en el que comunica a su pareja que la relación está terminada.
Sobre la mujer marroquí asesinada ayer por su pareja en un bar de Ciudad Rodrigo, Murillo dijo que en este caso la víctima no había denunciado a su agresor y que "posiblemente, ésta no era consciente de que le pudiera ocurrir tal cosa".
Por ello, animó a las mujeres a "poner remedio" a la violencia "desde las primeras manifestaciones". "El hostigamiento, la vigilancia o el control son las primeras manifestaciones de violencia. Hay que poner remedio cuando aparezcan las primeras alertas consultando con un trabajador social o un psicólogo. No hay que vivirlo a solas, porque eso es impunidad para el agresor", aseguró.
Por su parte, el secretario de Estado de Justicia, Julio Pérez, reconoció que el Gobierno "no está contento" con la gran cantidad de casos de violencia de género y apostó por "perfeccionar los mecanismos de prevención" para evitar este tipo de casos. Así, señaló que el Ejecutivo debe "hacer una revisión continua de la eficacia" de la Ley Integral contra la Violencia de Género.
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| 01 Apr 2008 - 11:01 | National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
URL: latinainstitute.wordpress.com/
| National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
New Blog
Nuestra Vida, Nuestra Voce
latinainstitute.wordpress.com/
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| 01 Apr 2008 - 10:50 | Black Women's Defense League
mwmsistahood@aol.com
|
THE NATIONAL RALLY & CONFERENCE TO "FIGHT VIOLENCE AND ABUSE OF BLACK WOMEN, GIRLS, & ELDERS" (PHILADELPHIA, PA)
We need your support to increase awareness, prevention, and support mechanism in helping to stop all forms of violence and abuse of our women, girls, and elders
Please pass the word and join us on May 10, 2008 in Philly,PA Love Park 15th and JFK
The National Rally To
"Fight Violence and Abuse of Black Women, Girls, & Elders"
Standing Together to End:
Murder, Rape, Beat Downs, Knock outs, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Victimization, Discrimination, Exploitation,Molestation, Mental & Spiritual Abuse, etc.
May 10, 2008
Philly, PA
"BE THERE" !!!
The "Enough Is Enough" Conference
May 5-9, 2008
Pro-Active Anti-Violence/Anti-Abuse Information, Training, Support, & Initiatives for Women of Color
(and Men Who Really Care)
For more information, to volunteer, present, contribute, etc. call: 267-299-6424
or e-mail: <mailto:mwmsistahood@aol.com> mwmsistahood@aol.com
Sponsored by the Official & National Million Woman March and The Black Women's Defense League
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| 01 Apr 2008 - 10:33 | admin
| CARe 9TH ANNUAL MULTICULTURAL GATHERING (CARMEL, IN)
Envision a World Without Sexual Violence
CARe 9th Annual Multicultural Gathering
May 7, 2008
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Oak Hill Mansion
5801 East 116th St.
Carmel, IN
Documentary: A Century of Genocide in the Americas: The Residential School Experience.
~ Rosemary Gibbons, director of the award-winning documentary short at the 2003 San Francisco American Indian Film Festival, speaks on A Century of Genocide in the Americas: The Residential School Experience, a short but powerful documentary about how Indian Residential Schools became a haven for institutionalized sexual abuse. Rosemary Gibbons is a Mimbres Apache/ Chicana, the first graduated student to get a Masters degree from the Native Voices Program. She is a member of the steering committee of the Boarding School Healing Project (BSHP) that is currently involved in education, validation, healing and making the Federal Government accountable for the wrongs committed in the United States Indian boarding school system.
“ Let’s Get R.E.A.L.!â€
~ Kadihjia Kelly, Courtney Butts, and Deadre Holmes ~
This workshop will focus on identifying the problems associated with helping women of color, particularly Black women on predominately White college campuses dealing with sexual violence, and outline suggested methods for reaching out to women of color for prevention and increased reporting.
““Preventing Workplace Sexual Violence: Meeting the Unique Health Care and Cultural Needs of Indigenous Farmworker Womenâ€
~Laura Mahr and Marcelina Martinez
This is a participation-based skills-building workshop designed to educate attendees about the prevalence of workplace-related sexual violence in agricultural work and strategies for prevention and supporting victims.
“Re-visioning the Sexual Violence Continuumâ€
~ Lydia Guy
The anti-rape movement has used sexual violence continua as a way of explaining the connection between sexual violence and sexism. This vision does not incorporate the reality of those experiencing multiple oppressions, particularly communities and individuals of color. This workshop will explore a “re-visioned†continuum that attempts to make explicit the connection between sexual violence and all forms of oppression.
“Wrong is Not My Name: The Art of Community Healingâ€
~ Facilitators: Manju Rajendran and Alexis Pauline Gumbs
In this workshop, members of UBUNTU will lead participants in the process of creating their own publication using found resources, urgency and the collected brilliance of those gathered. This workshop was first designed and facilitated by Serena Sebring and Alexis Pauline Gumbs at the Allied Media Conference.
Using June Jordan’s poem this workshop will encourage participants to explore and impact the relationship between gendered violence and structural political violence by raising their own voices, interviewing each other, writing poems, creating collages and assembling a shared work of transformation during the session.
The facilitators will scan the publication and distribute it as a pdf to the participants and (with permission) make it available online after the gathering.
Esperanza: The Immigrant Women's Legal Initiative
~ Mónica RamÃrez, founder of Esperanza, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center
Information from the NSVRC
~ Cathy Nardo, NSVRC Information Specialist
Registration Information (brochure attached)
Registration fee: $40
Payable to CARe
We’re sorry but we cannot take credit card payment at this time.
CEU’s will be offered
There are a limited number of scholarship opportunities available. Please contact <mailto:care@purdue.edu> care@purdue.edu no later than April 21st to apply.
Exhibitor Information
Contact us if you are interested in being an exhibitor at the CARe’s 9th Multicultural Gathering. <mailto:care@purdue.edu> care@purdue.edu
$50.00 Not-for-profit
$75.00 For profit
Registration form along with remittance should be submitted to:
CARe
AGAD Room 214
615 West State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2053
Phone: 765 494 6871
FAX: 765 496 - 7383
Kimber J. Nicoletti, MSW
Director of Outreach
CARe: Communities Against Rape Initiative//
President of Purdue Latino Faculty and Staff Association(LaFaSA)
Purdue University
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| 01 Apr 2008 - 09:44 | admin
URL: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar . . .
| Another family court facilitated massacre.....
Slaying Suspect's Wife Warned of
Risk to Children
Md. Courts Found Insufficient Threat
By Raymond McCaffrey, Dan Morse and Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, April 1, 2008; Page A01
Mark Castillo drowned his three children, one by one, in the bathtub of a Baltimore hotel room and placed their naked bodies in a bed, he later told police. He swallowed 100 Motrin pills and stabbed himself in the neck repeatedly with a steak knife. Then, police said, he drifted into unconsciousness.
continues...
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR2008033100887.html?hpid=topnews
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| 31 Mar 2008 - 14:51 | admin
URL: www.law.columbia.edu/focusareas/clinics/ . . .
|
Domestic Violence Survivor Brings Case to International Tribunal
(To see key legal documents and briefs in this important case, go to this page http://www.law.columbia.edu/focusareas/clinics/humanrights and scroll down)
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic filed an addendum brief with the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) this week in the landmark case of a domestic violence survivor. The case of Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales), whose three small girls were kidnapped and murdered by her estranged husband after local police refused to enforce a restraining order against him, marks the first time the tribunal had indicated that countries in the Americas, including the
US, may be responsible for protecting victims from private acts of violence under the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, the human rights doctrine adopted in 1948.
Lenahan's $30 million lawsuit against the Castle Rock police
department in Colorado was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2005. The court ruled that Lenahan had no constitutional right to police
enforcement of her restraining order, according to the ACLU. The
IACHR agreed to hear the case in October 2007.
"Jessica Lenahan was forced to turn to an international body because the U.S. legal system failed to provide her with a bare modicum of justice," said Araceli Martinez-Olguin, a lawyer with the ACLU Women's Rights Project, according to the Denver Post. "We hope that this action will ensure that other domestic-violence survivors in
this country and all of the Americas have legal recourse when their
human rights are violated by their governments."
Media Resources: Denver Post 3/25/08; ACLU Press Release 3/25/08;
Feminist Daily Newswire 10/9/07
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