Global War and Violence: Implications for US Social Workers

The Center for Victims of Torture has published a curriculum for social work instructors who want to prepare their students to work with torture survivors and war-traumatized refugees.

Blueprints for Violence Prevention

This report by the OJJDP describes 11 model programs and 21 promising programs that demonstrated evidence of effectiveness in delinquency, violence, and substance abuse prevention and reduction. The report describes the Blueprints programs, presents lessons learned about program implementation and provides recommendations for program designers, funders, and implementing agencies and organizations.

Homicides of Children and Youth

October 2001 Bulletin report. Provides a statistical portrait of juvenile homicide victimization by drawing on FBI and other data. As part of OJJDP's Crimes Against Children Series, the Bulletin offers detailed information about overall crime patterns and victim age groups. Specific types of juvenile homicide, including maltreatment homicides, abduction homicides, and school homicides, are discussed in further detail. The Bulletin also explores initiatives designed to prevent homicides of children and youth.

National Crime Victimization Survey: Criminal Victimization, 2004 (pdf)

This report presents estimates of national levels and rates of personal and property victimization for the year 2004. Rates and levels are provided for personal and property victimization by victim characteristics, type of crime, victim-offender relationship, use of weapons, and reporting to police. A special section is devoted to trends in victimization from 1993 to 2004. Estimates are from data collected using the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), an ongoing survey of households that interviews about 76,000 persons in 42,000 households twice annually. Violent crimes included in the report are rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault (from the NCVS), and homicide (from the FBI's UCR program). Property crimes examined are burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft.

Privacy of Victims' Counseling Communications

This document provides an overview of state laws and current issues related to the privacy of communications between victims and their counselors. Although several state legislatures have enacted laws on this issue, statutes vary greatly depending on the type of counselor covered by the privilege and the extent of the protection afforded crime victims.This bulletin and the others in the Legal Series highlight various circumstances in which relevant laws are applied, emphasizing their successful implementation. This document is also available for download as a PDF file at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/bulletins/legalseries/bulletin8/ncj192264.pdf.

Working with Victims of Crime with Disabilities

This is a product of the Symposium on Working with Crime Victims with Disabilities, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and coordinated by the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA). They developed recommendations for OVC and the victim assistance field on improving the response in serving crime victims with disabilities.

Human Rights Dialogue: Violence Against Women (pdf)

This special edition of the magazine explores how women's advocates are challenging the public/private divide, the cultural and religious objections to granting women's rights, and the common blindness to linkages between violence against women and the deprivation of other rights, specifically economic and social rights.

Report on the Taliban's War Against Women

Released November 17, 2001. Includes an Executive Summary, information on the Taliban's War Against Women; quotes by and about women in Afghanistan; and electronic resources on women in Afghanistan.

Women in the Wake of the Storm: Examining the Post-Katrina Realities of the Women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast

This report shares findings garnered from a series of interviews held with a diverse group of women from throughout the Gulf region. In telling their stories, it provides an analysis of women's increased vulnerability during times of natural disasters and lays out policy recommendations that pinpoint how best to address those needs in the wake of this disaster, and in anticipation of the next.

The Right to Survive: Sexual Violence, Women and HIV/AIDS (pdf)

This report describes the unparalleled situation experienced by women who were raped and infected with HIV/AIDS during the Rwandan genocide.

Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Violence in 2004 (pdf)

This report is about bias related incidents targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the US.

Close the Book on Hate: Responding to Hate Motivated Behaviors in Schools

Discusses hate incidents and hate crimes. Gives lesson plans and teaching tips regarding responding to hate-motivated behavior in schools, holiday activities guidelines, anti-bias education, creating a positive environment in which to raise diversity issues, and resources.

Global War and Violence: Implications for US Social Workers

The Center for Victims of Torture has published a curriculum for social work instructors who want to prepare their students to work with torture survivors and war-traumatized refugees.

Hate Crime in America Summit Recommendations

The 1998 IACP Hate Crime in America Summit produced 46 recommendations to: Prevent Hate Crime; Respond to Hate Crime; and Measure the Effectiveness of Prevention and Response Efforts.

Hate Crimes Against People with Disabilities

This paper examines hate crimes perpetrated against people with disabilities. The paper outlines some of the differences between hate crimes committed against people with disabilities and those committed against other members of the community.

Healing the Hate: A National Hate Crime Prevention Curriculum (pdf)

Originally designed to be used in classroom settings, these materials have also proven useful in a variety of other venues: working with youth who commit hate crimes, working with schools experiencing specific bias crime problems, in after-school programs, and in teacher training settings.

More Than A Name: State Sponsored Homophobia and Its Consequences in Southern Africa (pdf)

This report evaluates the effects of State-sponsored homophobia on the human rights of sexual and gender minorities in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Preventing Youth Hate Crimes: A Manual for Schools and Communities, 1998

Promotes the discussion, planning, immediate action, and long-term responses of hate crime to assist schools and communities in confronting and eliminating harassment, intimidation, violence, and other hate-motivated behavior among young people.

Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada

This report examines the role of discrimination in acts of violence carried out against Indigenous women in Canadian towns and cities. This discrimination takes the form both of overt cultural prejudice and of implicit or systemic biases in the policies and actions of government officials and agencies, or of society as a whole. This discrimination has played out in policies and practices that have helped put Indigenous women in harm’s way and in the failure to provide Indigenous women the protection from violence that is every woman’s human right.

The Impact of Hate Violence on Victims: Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Attacks

From Social Work, May 1994, pp. 247-251, posted by the National Asssociation of Social Workers. This study explored the nature of hate attacks and victims' responses to them. The sample consisted of 59 victims and included black, white, and Southeast Asian people. Data were obtained through focus group meetings, individual interviews, and questionnaires. More than half of the victims reported experiencing a series of attacks rather than a single attack. Anger, fear, and sadness were the emotional responses most frequently reported by victims. About one-third of the victims reported behavioral responses such as moving from the neighborhood or purchasing a gun. The responses of hate violence victims were similar to those of victims of other types of personal crime. Implications for social work intervention are discussed.

The Right to Survive: Sexual Violence, Women and HIV/AIDS (pdf)

This report describes the unparalleled situation experienced by women who were raped and infected with HIV/AIDS during the Rwandan genocide.

Working with Victims of Crime with Disabilities

This is a product of the Symposium on Working with Crime Victims with Disabilities, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and coordinated by the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA). They developed recommendations for OVC and the victim assistance field on improving the response in serving crime victims with disabilities.

A High-Tech Twist on Abuse: Technology, Intimate Partner Stalking, and Advocacy

This Violence Against Women Online Resources commissioned document summarizes the existing knowledge on the use of technology to stalk. The author uses both published literature and contributions provided by numerous survivors’ reports to provide current information on the variety of sophisticated tools that are being used to stalk current and former intimate partners. The article also provides specific strategies for advocates, including safety planning information, a resource list, and a handout for survivors.

Helpful or Harmful?: How Innovative Communication Technology Affects Survivors of Intimate Violence

This paper explores: 1) the prevalence of web usage by both survivors of intimate violence and the organizations that serve them; 2) the ways in which batterers misuse communication technology to monitor and control their partners activities; and 3) precautions that survivors and organizations can employ to safeguard themselves from liability, harm, and ethical conundrums.

Internet Safety Information

Article on how to erase history lists and cache files on your browser.

Pornography and Sexual Violence

This paper explores possible connections between men's use of pornography and sexual violence, and highlights definitions of terms, appropriate methods of investigation, relevant aspects of current disputes, and how pornography reinforces and sexualizes a subordinate status of women.

Survivors of Intimate Violence Seek Help Online: Implications of Responding to Increasing Requests

March 19, 2001. This article documents a one-year study of unsolicited email requests sent to Violence Against Women Online Resources. This article explores some of the implications of responding to requests from survivors online; and seeks to raise awareness about one particular website's increasing number of electronic help-seeking requests. The author calls for a national discussion on responding to such requests and underscores the importance of developing a strategic plan to address the issue.

The Internet and Cyberstalking (pdf)

This paper focuses upon cyberstalking because in this way it becomes possible to discern what is special about criminality that takes advantage of the unique possibilities offered by the Internet.

Warning!!: How an Abuser Can Discover Your Internet Activities (pdf)

This article discusses email safety and methods for clearing the computer cache of visited sites.

All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in US State Prisons

This report examines the sexual abuse of female prisoners largely at the hands of male correctional employees at eleven state prisons located in the north, south, east, and west of the United States.

Gender Approaches in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations (pdf)

This manual aims to increase effectiveness of humanitarian and recovery interventions through integration of a gender perspective in conflict and post-conflict situations. It includes a chart to depict different levels of possible gender violence dimensions along the timeline of pre-conflict and post-conflict.

Gender-Based Violence Tools Manual: For Assessment & Program Design, Monitoring & Evaluation in Conflict-Affected Settings

This report intends to improve international and local capacities when addressing gender-based violence in refugee, internally-displaced and conflict settings.

Global War and Violence: Implications for US Social Workers

The Center for Victims of Torture has published a curriculum for social work instructors who want to prepare their students to work with torture survivors and war-traumatized refugees.

International Criminal Justice, Conflict and Its Response to Gender-Based Violence (pdf)

This article illustrates and analyzes the need for accountability and healing for women who suffered gender-based violence during armed conflict.

License to Rape: The Burmese Military Regime's Use of Sexual Violence in the Ongoing War in Shan State

This report details 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving 625 girls and women, committed by Burmese army troops in Shan State, mostly between 1996 and 2001. The report reveals that the Burmese military regime is allowing its troops systematically and on a widespread scale to commit rape with impunity in order to terrorize and subjugate the ethnic peoples of Shan State. The report illustrates there is a strong case that war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the form of sexual violence, have occurred and continue to occur in Shan State.

Lives Blown Apart: Crimes Against Women in Times of Conflict

This report attempts to explore some of the underlying reasons for this violence. Evidence gathered by Amnesty International in recent years supports the view that conflict reinforces and exacerbates existing patterns of discrimination and violence against women.

More Than A Name: State Sponsored Homophobia and Its Consequences in Southern Africa (pdf)

This report evaluates the effects of State-sponsored homophobia on the human rights of sexual and gender minorities in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Not Part of My Sentence: Violations of Human Rights of Women in Custody

This document, produced as part of the USA campaign, gives details of the human rights abuses suffered by women in custody for breaking criminal laws. These abuses include the use of restaints, poor health provison, sexual abuse by prison staff and the isolation of women held in high security units.

Sexual Violence and its Consequences among Displaced Persons in Darfur and Chad

This briefing paper documents how the Sudanese security forces, including police deployed to protect displaced persons, and allied Janjaweed militias continue to commit rape and sexual violence on daily basis. Even as refugees in Chad, women and girls fleeing the violence in Darfur continued to face the risk of rape and assault by civilians or militia members when collecting water, fuel or animal fodder near the border.

Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada

This report examines the role of discrimination in acts of violence carried out against Indigenous women in Canadian towns and cities. This discrimination takes the form both of overt cultural prejudice and of implicit or systemic biases in the policies and actions of government officials and agencies, or of society as a whole. This discrimination has played out in policies and practices that have helped put Indigenous women in harm’s way and in the failure to provide Indigenous women the protection from violence that is every woman’s human right.

The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur

This report offers a glimpse into the ongoing violence against women in Darfur and includes statistics and short stories from survivors. It concludes by giving recommendations for stopping the rapes in Darfur and in the conflicts throughout the world.

The Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls (pdf)

This report of a consultative meeting is intended to contribute to the United Nations study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls, requested by the United Nations Security Council. This report reflects the purpose of the meeting which was twofold: first, to examine and explore the impact of armed conflict on women and girls; and, second, to formulate strategies and tools to ensure that reproductive health programmes accurately reflect this population’s needs, specifically by addressing them through a comprehensive, gendersensitive approach.

The Military Response to Victims of Domestic Violence: Tools for Civilian Advocates

This handbook is designed for civilian advocates working with military victims of domestic violence—both active duty victims and partners of active duty service members—to help advocates respond to the uniquely challenging needs of this population of survivors.

The Misuse of Police Powers in Officer Involved Domestic Violence

This document outlines some of the basics of the police culture and police training in order to gain insight into the victim’s experience. Being “culturally sensitive” helps to place in context some of the types of abuse only batterers within law enforcement inflict, how these abusers minimize and justify their behavior, and their sense of entitlement to exercise power and control over their victims.

The War Within the War: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo

This report documents the frequent and sometimes systematic use of rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Rwandan-occupied areas of eastern Congo. This report focuses on crimes of sexual violence committed by soldiers and other combatants. But rape and other sexual crimes are not just carried out by armed factions but also increasingly by police and others in positions of authority and power, and by opportunistic common criminals and bandits, taking advantage of the prevailing climate of impunity and the culture of violence against women and girls.

Trapped by Inequality: Bhutanese Refugee Women in Nepal

Following investigations of sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers in refugee camps in West Africa, several cases of sexual exploitation involving refugee aid workers surfaced in Nepal in October 2002. This report highlights not only the hardship of life in refugee camps, but also the injustice of gender-based violence and discrimination for Bhutanese refugee women in Nepal.

War Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone (pdf)

This study is one of the first to scientifically document the extent of sexual violence as a result of war. This population based assessment of war-related sexual violence and other human rights abuses in Sierra Leone, indicate that combatants have committed widespread human rights abuses and international crimes against internally displaced persons in Sierra Leone.

We'll Kill You If You Cry: Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone Conflict

The report presents evidence of horrific abuses against women and girls in every region of Sierra Leone by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as well as other rebel, government and international peacekeeping forces. The report is based on hundreds of interviews with victims, witnesses and officials, details crimes of sexual violence committed primarily by soldiers of various rebel forces —the RUF, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and the West Side Boys. The report also examines sexual violence by government forces and militias, as well as international peacekeepers.

Whose Safety?: Women of Color and the Violence of Law Enforcement (pdf)

This comprehensive research report documents how women of color, both immigrant and U.S-born, face violence and the abuse of authority from law-enforcement agencies - from local police to the prison system to INS raids. Drawing on interviews with nearly 100 anti-violence activists as well as published sources, "Whose Safety?" outlines community interactions with enforcement agencies, the impact of enforcement violence on key areas of women's lives, and current anti-violence movements.

Women, War and Peace: The Independent Experts' Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women's Role in Peace Building

This report covers many areas of concern, from the gender dimensions of violence and displacement during conflict to the role of peacekeepers and the need for women to play a central part during peace negotiations and reconstruction. Key recommendations focus on finding ways to protect and empower women.

An Islamic Perspective on Violence Against Women

This is a statement describing how those who perpetrate violence against women are not following the true tenants of the Quran.

Gender Based Violence: Emerging Issues in Programs Serving Displaced Populations (pdf)

This report provides background and current information about gender-based violence programming with populations affected by armed conflict. It gives concrete advice and examples of programming addressing gender-based violence, and lists valuable resources for further information.

Gender-Based Violence Tools Manual: For Assessment & Program Design, Monitoring & Evaluation in Conflict-Affected Settings

This report intends to improve international and local capacities when addressing gender-based violence in refugee, internally-displaced and conflict settings.

Immigrant and Refugee Power and Control Wheel

Throughout the world, women are victims of domestic violence just as there are battered women in the United States. Immigrant and refugee women know that in their countries of origin, women have been tortured with sexual abuse by the army/rebels, kidnapped into prostitution, forced into marriages, killed in honor killings, used for sexual slavery, stoned to death and often experience other gender related abuses. This Immigrant and Refugee Power and Control Wheel is an adaptation of the Duluth Power and Conrol wheel created by attendees Immigrant & Refugee Women Support Group in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

License to Rape: The Burmese Military Regime's Use of Sexual Violence in the Ongoing War in Shan State

This report details 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving 625 girls and women, committed by Burmese army troops in Shan State, mostly between 1996 and 2001. The report reveals that the Burmese military regime is allowing its troops systematically and on a widespread scale to commit rape with impunity in order to terrorize and subjugate the ethnic peoples of Shan State. The report illustrates there is a strong case that war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the form of sexual violence, have occurred and continue to occur in Shan State.

Lives Blown Apart: Crimes Against Women in Times of Conflict

This report attempts to explore some of the underlying reasons for this violence. Evidence gathered by Amnesty International in recent years supports the view that conflict reinforces and exacerbates existing patterns of discrimination and violence against women.

More Than A Name: State Sponsored Homophobia and Its Consequences in Southern Africa (pdf)

This report evaluates the effects of State-sponsored homophobia on the human rights of sexual and gender minorities in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Report on the Taliban's War Against Women

Released November 17, 2001. Includes an Executive Summary, information on the Taliban's War Against Women; quotes by and about women in Afghanistan; and electronic resources on women in Afghanistan.

Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in the Americas (pdf)

This document highlights the human rights violations (institutional and individual) of sexual minorities in the Americas.

Sexual Violence and its Consequences among Displaced Persons in Darfur and Chad

This briefing paper documents how the Sudanese security forces, including police deployed to protect displaced persons, and allied Janjaweed militias continue to commit rape and sexual violence on daily basis. Even as refugees in Chad, women and girls fleeing the violence in Darfur continued to face the risk of rape and assault by civilians or militia members when collecting water, fuel or animal fodder near the border.

The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur

This report offers a glimpse into the ongoing violence against women in Darfur and includes statistics and short stories from survivors. It concludes by giving recommendations for stopping the rapes in Darfur and in the conflicts throughout the world.

The Invisible Exodus: North Koreans in the People's Republic of China.

This report presents a comprehensive overview of this human rights disaster, grounded in first-hand accounts of North Koreans who escaped to the South, and humanitarian workers who aided them and many less fortunate. It examines the complex and harrowing decision of migrants to leave, an illegal act often deemed tantamount to treason; the months and even years of hiding in China; the desperate circumstances that lead women to sell themselves as sexual companions; and the vulnerability these migrants have that open them to every and any abuse.

The Right to Survive: Sexual Violence, Women and HIV/AIDS (pdf)

This report describes the unparalleled situation experienced by women who were raped and infected with HIV/AIDS during the Rwandan genocide.

We'll Kill You If You Cry: Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone Conflict

The report presents evidence of horrific abuses against women and girls in every region of Sierra Leone by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as well as other rebel, government and international peacekeeping forces. The report is based on hundreds of interviews with victims, witnesses and officials, details crimes of sexual violence committed primarily by soldiers of various rebel forces —the RUF, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and the West Side Boys. The report also examines sexual violence by government forces and militias, as well as international peacekeepers.

Whose Safety?: Women of Color and the Violence of Law Enforcement (pdf)

This comprehensive research report documents how women of color, both immigrant and U.S-born, face violence and the abuse of authority from law-enforcement agencies - from local police to the prison system to INS raids. Drawing on interviews with nearly 100 anti-violence activists as well as published sources, "Whose Safety?" outlines community interactions with enforcement agencies, the impact of enforcement violence on key areas of women's lives, and current anti-violence movements.

Women, War and Peace: The Independent Experts' Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women's Role in Peace Building

This report covers many areas of concern, from the gender dimensions of violence and displacement during conflict to the role of peacekeepers and the need for women to play a central part during peace negotiations and reconstruction. Key recommendations focus on finding ways to protect and empower women.

Gender Approaches in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations (pdf)

This manual aims to increase effectiveness of humanitarian and recovery interventions through integration of a gender perspective in conflict and post-conflict situations. It includes a chart to depict different levels of possible gender violence dimensions along the timeline of pre-conflict and post-conflict.

Gender Dimensions of Racial Discrimination (pdf)

This publication produced by the United Nations describes gender and racial discrimination women face and the efforts to combat it with recommendations of action.

Gender Oppression, Abuse and Violence: Community Accountability within the People of Color Progressive Movement (pdf)

This report is generated from a two-day meeting held in Seattle February 7 – 8, 2004 by an ad-hoc INCITE! Community Accountability in Organizations Working Group. This group specifically gathered to address gender oppression including patriarchical political and work environments, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and sexual assault committed against women/girls/women-identified persons of color within progressive, radical and revolutionary people of color organizations and movement.

Global War and Violence: Implications for US Social Workers

The Center for Victims of Torture has published a curriculum for social work instructors who want to prepare their students to work with torture survivors and war-traumatized refugees.

Honor Killings: An Islamic Perspective

Discussion of honor killings how the prevailing view that devalues and belittles women is derived from sociocultural factors that are justified by a distorted and erroneous interpretation of religion, especially of Islam.

License to Rape: The Burmese Military Regime's Use of Sexual Violence in the Ongoing War in Shan State

This report details 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving 625 girls and women, committed by Burmese army troops in Shan State, mostly between 1996 and 2001. The report reveals that the Burmese military regime is allowing its troops systematically and on a widespread scale to commit rape with impunity in order to terrorize and subjugate the ethnic peoples of Shan State. The report illustrates there is a strong case that war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the form of sexual violence, have occurred and continue to occur in Shan State.

Pakistan: Honor Killings of Girls and Women

January 1999. First Amnesty International report ever to focus on human rights violations not committed by government agents. Reveals that hundreds of women in Pakistan are murdered each year in the name of "honor." Offers recommendations for discouraging "honor killings."

Report on the Taliban's War Against Women

Released November 17, 2001. Includes an Executive Summary, information on the Taliban's War Against Women; quotes by and about women in Afghanistan; and electronic resources on women in Afghanistan.

The Impact of Hate Violence on Victims: Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Attacks

From Social Work, May 1994, pp. 247-251, posted by the National Asssociation of Social Workers. This study explored the nature of hate attacks and victims' responses to them. The sample consisted of 59 victims and included black, white, and Southeast Asian people. Data were obtained through focus group meetings, individual interviews, and questionnaires. More than half of the victims reported experiencing a series of attacks rather than a single attack. Anger, fear, and sadness were the emotional responses most frequently reported by victims. About one-third of the victims reported behavioral responses such as moving from the neighborhood or purchasing a gun. The responses of hate violence victims were similar to those of victims of other types of personal crime. Implications for social work intervention are discussed.

The Right to Survive: Sexual Violence, Women and HIV/AIDS (pdf)

This report describes the unparalleled situation experienced by women who were raped and infected with HIV/AIDS during the Rwandan genocide.

War Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone (pdf)

This study is one of the first to scientifically document the extent of sexual violence as a result of war. This population based assessment of war-related sexual violence and other human rights abuses in Sierra Leone, indicate that combatants have committed widespread human rights abuses and international crimes against internally displaced persons in Sierra Leone.

Whose Safety?: Women of Color and the Violence of Law Enforcement (pdf)

This comprehensive research report documents how women of color, both immigrant and U.S-born, face violence and the abuse of authority from law-enforcement agencies - from local police to the prison system to INS raids. Drawing on interviews with nearly 100 anti-violence activists as well as published sources, "Whose Safety?" outlines community interactions with enforcement agencies, the impact of enforcement violence on key areas of women's lives, and current anti-violence movements.

Global War and Violence: Implications for US Social Workers

The Center for Victims of Torture has published a curriculum for social work instructors who want to prepare their students to work with torture survivors and war-traumatized refugees.

Honor Killings: An Islamic Perspective

Discussion of honor killings how the prevailing view that devalues and belittles women is derived from sociocultural factors that are justified by a distorted and erroneous interpretation of religion, especially of Islam.

Human Rights Dialogue: Violence Against Women (pdf)

This special edition of the magazine explores how women's advocates are challenging the public/private divide, the cultural and religious objections to granting women's rights, and the common blindness to linkages between violence against women and the deprivation of other rights, specifically economic and social rights.

Pakistan: Honor Killings of Girls and Women

January 1999. First Amnesty International report ever to focus on human rights violations not committed by government agents. Reveals that hundreds of women in Pakistan are murdered each year in the name of "honor." Offers recommendations for discouraging "honor killings."

Report on the Taliban's War Against Women

Released November 17, 2001. Includes an Executive Summary, information on the Taliban's War Against Women; quotes by and about women in Afghanistan; and electronic resources on women in Afghanistan.

Gender Approaches in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations (pdf)

This manual aims to increase effectiveness of humanitarian and recovery interventions through integration of a gender perspective in conflict and post-conflict situations. It includes a chart to depict different levels of possible gender violence dimensions along the timeline of pre-conflict and post-conflict.

Gender-Based Violence Tools Manual: For Assessment & Program Design, Monitoring & Evaluation in Conflict-Affected Settings

This report intends to improve international and local capacities when addressing gender-based violence in refugee, internally-displaced and conflict settings.

Just Die Quietly: Domestic Violence and Women's Vulnerability to HIV in Uganda

The accounts in this report reveal that Ugandan women are becoming infected with HIV, and will eventually die of AIDS, because the state is failing to protect them from domestic violence. The report informs us that HIV/AIDS programs focusing on fidelity, abstinence, and condom use do not account for the ways in which domestic violence inhibits women's control over sexual matters in marriage. The report urges the Ugandan government to enact domestic violence legislation, and to make women's health, physical integrity, and equal rights in marriage a central focus of AIDS programming.

License to Rape: The Burmese Military Regime's Use of Sexual Violence in the Ongoing War in Shan State

This report details 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving 625 girls and women, committed by Burmese army troops in Shan State, mostly between 1996 and 2001. The report reveals that the Burmese military regime is allowing its troops systematically and on a widespread scale to commit rape with impunity in order to terrorize and subjugate the ethnic peoples of Shan State. The report illustrates there is a strong case that war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the form of sexual violence, have occurred and continue to occur in Shan State.

Lives Blown Apart: Crimes Against Women in Times of Conflict

This report attempts to explore some of the underlying reasons for this violence. Evidence gathered by Amnesty International in recent years supports the view that conflict reinforces and exacerbates existing patterns of discrimination and violence against women.

More Than A Name: State Sponsored Homophobia and Its Consequences in Southern Africa (pdf)

This report evaluates the effects of State-sponsored homophobia on the human rights of sexual and gender minorities in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Report on the Taliban's War Against Women

Released November 17, 2001. Includes an Executive Summary, information on the Taliban's War Against Women; quotes by and about women in Afghanistan; and electronic resources on women in Afghanistan.

Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in the Americas (pdf)

This document highlights the human rights violations (institutional and individual) of sexual minorities in the Americas.

Sexual Victimization in Indian Country: Barriers and Resources for Native Women Seeking Help

This paper summarizes the barriers facing and resources available to American Indian victims of sexual victimization, with a focus on systemic barriers found in the organizations and communities most likely to serve native women. Additionally, the paper reviews how an understanding of these issues can enhance services and help eliminate violence against future generations of American Indian women.

Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada

This report examines the role of discrimination in acts of violence carried out against Indigenous women in Canadian towns and cities. This discrimination takes the form both of overt cultural prejudice and of implicit or systemic biases in the policies and actions of government officials and agencies, or of society as a whole. This discrimination has played out in policies and practices that have helped put Indigenous women in harm’s way and in the failure to provide Indigenous women the protection from violence that is every woman’s human right.

The Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls (pdf)

This report of a consultative meeting is intended to contribute to the United Nations study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls, requested by the United Nations Security Council. This report reflects the purpose of the meeting which was twofold: first, to examine and explore the impact of armed conflict on women and girls; and, second, to formulate strategies and tools to ensure that reproductive health programmes accurately reflect this population’s needs, specifically by addressing them through a comprehensive, gendersensitive approach.

The Right to Survive: Sexual Violence, Women and HIV/AIDS (pdf)

This report describes the unparalleled situation experienced by women who were raped and infected with HIV/AIDS during the Rwandan genocide.

The War Within the War: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo

This report documents the frequent and sometimes systematic use of rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Rwandan-occupied areas of eastern Congo. This report focuses on crimes of sexual violence committed by soldiers and other combatants. But rape and other sexual crimes are not just carried out by armed factions but also increasingly by police and others in positions of authority and power, and by opportunistic common criminals and bandits, taking advantage of the prevailing climate of impunity and the culture of violence against women and girls.

Trapped by Inequality: Bhutanese Refugee Women in Nepal

Following investigations of sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers in refugee camps in West Africa, several cases of sexual exploitation involving refugee aid workers surfaced in Nepal in October 2002. This report highlights not only the hardship of life in refugee camps, but also the injustice of gender-based violence and discrimination for Bhutanese refugee women in Nepal.

We'll Kill You If You Cry: Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone Conflict

The report presents evidence of horrific abuses against women and girls in every region of Sierra Leone by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as well as other rebel, government and international peacekeeping forces. The report is based on hundreds of interviews with victims, witnesses and officials, details crimes of sexual violence committed primarily by soldiers of various rebel forces —the RUF, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and the West Side Boys. The report also examines sexual violence by government forces and militias, as well as international peacekeepers.

Whose Safety?: Women of Color and the Violence of Law Enforcement (pdf)

This comprehensive research report documents how women of color, both immigrant and U.S-born, face violence and the abuse of authority from law-enforcement agencies - from local police to the prison system to INS raids. Drawing on interviews with nearly 100 anti-violence activists as well as published sources, "Whose Safety?" outlines community interactions with enforcement agencies, the impact of enforcement violence on key areas of women's lives, and current anti-violence movements.

Women in the Wake of the Storm: Examining the Post-Katrina Realities of the Women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast

This report shares findings garnered from a series of interviews held with a diverse group of women from throughout the Gulf region. In telling their stories, it provides an analysis of women's increased vulnerability during times of natural disasters and lays out policy recommendations that pinpoint how best to address those needs in the wake of this disaster, and in anticipation of the next.

Women, War and Peace: The Independent Experts' Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women's Role in Peace Building

This report covers many areas of concern, from the gender dimensions of violence and displacement during conflict to the role of peacekeepers and the need for women to play a central part during peace negotiations and reconstruction. Key recommendations focus on finding ways to protect and empower women.