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Amnesty International UK - Shrewsbury Group

Article by Peter Holgate

This article appeared in the ‘Crosstalk’ section of the Shrewsbury Chronicle in December 2004

Tomorrow, 10th December, is Human Rights Day. So it is a suitable time to be reminded about the activities of Amnesty International, which describes itself as a 'Human Rights Organisation'.

If you have travelled on the London Underground recently you may have noticed posters advertising a cosmetic for 'bruising relationships'. At the bottom of these 'advertisements' you see, alongside the Amnesty logo of the barbed wire around the candle, the words STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. The products are called 'Cachez' (French for 'hide/conceal').

There are no such products! These pictures of a beautiful woman with a black eye are designed to show us the results of domestic violence in the UK, and the words 'Problem? What problem?' are the result of Amnesty's research into the reaction of a sizeable percentage of the public to this problem.

However,

In 2001 there were an estimated 635,000 incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales. ·
Domestic violence made up 22 per cent of all violent incidents reported in the 2001-2 British Crime Survey. ·
According to the Crown Prosecution Inspectorate, there is one call to the emergency services every 60 seconds, 2 women are killed every week and fewer than 3 in 10 domestic violence incidents reported to the police result in conviction. Only one in 4 incidents are recorded. ·
One in 4 British women experiences acts of violence at some time
On average, a woman reports violence after the 35th attack.

World-wide, the picture is very bleak. It includes 'honour killings', rape as a strategy in armed conflicts, torture, etc etc.

In the coming months the Shrewsbury Amnesty Group will be holding Saturday Stalls outside the Unitarian Church in High Street at least once a month, where you will be able to sign petitions in support of this campaign.

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