We all value the women and mothers in our lives and so we’re happy to be celebrating International Women’s Day, and saying thank you to our mums this March. Yet around the world many aren’t so fortunate and millions of women each year are dying needlessly in childbirth.

Pregnancy is not a disease, yet it kills one woman every minute. Almost all of these deaths are preventable and 95% of them occur in developing countries. Poverty, violence and a lack of education all contribute.

The lifetime risk of maternal death here in the UK is only one in nearly 16,700; in Sierra Leone it is one in eight. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Help us change this

We think a mother’s health is worth fighting for. We know you do too. So join us in telling our politicians that worldwide maternal health needs to be a priority for the next UK Government.

Together we can ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth safe and every child healthy. Together we can make every day Mother’s Day.  Here’s how:

1. Add your photo to our giant Mother’s Day card

2. Email a Mother’s Day message to the party leaders

We’ll also be filling our sites with actions relating to women’s rights all week, so keep your eyes peeled for other ways to get involved. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest.

About our Campaign

We are working with a coalition of UK-based NGOs, professional associations and civil society networks who believe that the world’s women – and its children – deserve better, and the manifesto for motherhood is a starting point for our campaigning around the UK general election.
Read the Manifesto for Motherhood (PDF)

You can find out more about our campaign for maternal health here.

Mass lobby at Parliament, November 2009 © Simone Novotny

We’ve just had a look at the monthly NFP Synergy report which tracks MP recognition of Amnesty issues. This gave us a clue about the recognition amongst MPs of the No Recourse to Public Funds campaign.

After our mass lobby at Parliament last November where we met with 65 MPs:

25% of MPs asked for the report were definitely aware of  the issue of No Recourse to Public Funds campaign
25% of MPs have had a letter from a constituent
25% of MPs have in turn written to the Minister

All this hopefully means that all MPs contacted by Amnesty have taken action.

For a campaign on quite a specialist issue this is already a success – and this is thanks to YOU!

Quick update: We are still monitoring the success of the pilot project that the government has started for 3 months. The project should be ended at the end of February and we can already see some points where we will need you to follow up with more lobbying. So watch this space for more campaigning action on No Recourse to Public Funds.

The Billion Pound-0-Gram (David Mcandless)

Governments and local authorities are starting to make their data available for re-use. Are we entering an new era of transparency?

• Obama launched data.gov, which offers feeds from various departments including the US defence department and Nasa.
• The UK government is opening its data on data.gov.uk. This is only about non-personal, non-sensitive data – information like the list of schools, crime rates or the performance of your council.
• … and soon Boris Johnson will open an online data warehouse with more than 200 data sets relevant to life in the capital.

Why is open data that exciting?

By accessing information, we can understand better how the world works. We can do wonderful things with data today by visualising them, mashing them up or turning them into online applications.

Not convinced? Check out those few links…

• The Guardian Datablog
• Information Is Beautiful
• List of online applications created with UK government data
• Designing The News

Still not convinced…

Watch Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web, talking about the importance of unlocking and linking data.

If you are travelling over Xmas and New Year, don’t forget your camera and email us some snaps of Hell stations! It will be great to reach 100 Hell stations by the end of the year.

Just email them to amnesty.amnesty@gmail.com and we will put them up on the map.

Have a nice break!

One third of all recorded cluster bomb casualties are children. Yet despite efforts to ban these indiscriminate weapons, 138 banks and other financial institutions continue to invest over US$20 billion in companies that produce them.

Cluster bombs are large explosive weapons that scatter dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions over a wide area. They cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians. Many submunitions fail to detonate on impact and, like landmines, continue to kill and maim people long after the conflict has ended. Find out more about Dtar’s story by watching this short film.

The good

The global campaign to eradicate cluster bombs, spearheaded by the Cluster Munitions Coalition, reached a major breakthrough in 2008 when governments negotiated an international treaty to ban them. So far, 103 countries have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the UK.

The bad

Although the UK government has signed the ban and stopped production of cluster bombs, UK banks still invest in cluster bomb producers in countries that have not yet outlawed them. A ban simply can’t be effective if there is still funding for the production of these weapons.

The downright ugly

A recent report* finds that UK high street banks are lending or providing investment banking services to cluster bomb producers to the tune of:

– Barclays: US$274 million
– HSBC: US$657 million
– Royal Bank of Scotland (includes NatWest): US$64 million

That could be YOUR cash. And if there’s one thing banks can’t do without, it’s customers: tell your bank to stop this shameful practice once and for all. If you’re not a customer of these banks you can still contact them to let them know that you find their investment in producers of cluster bombs totally unacceptable.

Take action – email your bank now

Had a response? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Troy Davis was convicted for the murder of a policeman, which he maintains he did not commit. Convicted solely on eye-witness testimony as there was no physical evidence, Troy’s case has been the subject of global debate and campaigns for years. Or rather, years and years; Troy has been sitting on death row since 1991.

Since Troy’s conviction, 7 of the 9 witnesses who gave evidence against him have either recanted or changed their statements – with some claiming that the police coerced them into testifying against Troy. And yet, Troy still lives his life locked up in Georgia’s state prison, in the shadow of his death sentence.

The case of Troy Anthony Davis speaks of gross injustice, not only with specifically how he has been treated – but more widely as representative of how America’s justice system functions. Or malfunctions, depending on your outlook.  

This week, we have a unique opportunity to hear from Troy’s family, who dedicate a large proportion of their lives to campaigning for justice for Troy. Troy’s sister, Martina Correia, and her teenage son, De’Jaun, will be speaking and taking questions at an event here at Amnesty UK on Wednesday 25 November.

They will be joined by Richard Hughes from Keane, who is a long-term supporter of Troy’s case, and Kim Manning-Cooper, Amnesty UK’s Death Penalty Campaign Manager.

Georgia and the death penalty may feel a long way from our daily reality in the UK. If you want to understand Troy’s case from his family’s perspective and have the chance to ask them questions, make sure you attend the event where is the justice for me?: Campaigning for Troy Davis

Last week, we held a mass lobby of parliament – demanding that all women in the UK are given equal access to refuges and support services.

Hundreds of you joined us at the House of Commons to meet your MP in person and ask for their commitment to making this happen. Hundreds others emailed or tweeted their MPs instead. We still need your voice on this and it’s not too late for you to take part – email or tweet your MP on this issue

The pressure is working – Amnesty has just cautiously welcomed the Home Office’s three-month pilot scheme to grant women facing violence and who have insecure immigration status the ability to access a refuge and seek specialised support. Read the press release

How it went at the House of Commons

260 supporters signed up to meet their MPs in person on 4 November, covering some 65 MPs between them - a great turn out! However, we do know that 3 people couldn’t come because they were busy trying to resolve 3 complex cases where women have no access to refuges and support services – showing the real and current impact of this issue upon women’s lives.

On the 4 November, a few of us went down to the House of Commons to support the activists. Some were understandably nervous about meeting their MP for the first time and confronting them on issues around violence against women in the UK – but everyone was determined to get the message across that all women in the UK need support and protection from violence, regardless of their immigration status.

 We blogged

We blogged live from the lobby, with each post describing the experience of  an individual supporter who met with their MP.  If you’d like to get a read about how the lobby went for different people, talking to various MPs from across the political spectrum, have a look at this blog 

 We filmed

We also managed to get a few supporters on camera, telling us how their meetings with their MPs went. Watch the video below to hear from one of the activists at the lobby.

More video footage from the lobby will be available to view soon. While you’re waiting, you could look at some of the photos from the lobby

We weren’t the only people at the lobby filming; Guardian video came down too, to interview some women who have suffered violence and not had access to refuges. Watch their footage

 We tweeted

Lots of you tweeted your MPs and discussed the issue on Twitter, using the hashtag #masslobby.  Check out how this looked on Twitter

All in all…

The Lobby was a great success in terms of how many people contacted their MPs, bringing to their attention the plight of women who have no acess to support services and refuges in the UK – and demanding that something is done about it.

 More videos and pictures from the day will be available soon.  In the meantime, your support is crucial – so if you haven’t done so already, email or tweet your MP on this issue

The UK Government is obliged to protect, respect and fulfil women’s human rights. As the 2010 general election is coming up and a change of government is possible, all political parties must address violence against women.

On Wednesday 4 November, hundreds people asked their MP to ensure that all women in the UK are given equal access to support and protection from violence – regardless of their immigration status.

It is vital that we keep up this pressure. You can help us do this via email or on Twitter.  Act now

The story so far – towards a violence against women strategy

We have been campaigning the government to uphold their obligations towards women’s rights.

• In March, we petitioned MPs about the lack of support services for women – pointing out the huge gaps in services across Britain, illustrated in the Map of Gaps reports.
• In May, the Home Office launched a public consultation to develop a ‘violence against women’ strategy. We fed into this, demanding that the strategy tackles destructive social attitudes around violence against women and that it plans services for minority ethnic women facing violence such as genital mutilation and honour crimes.
• We have campaigned constantly for women with insecure immigration status to be given access to refuges. At the moment, if these women suffer violence they have nowhere to go; this is because of the no recourse to public funds rule. This must be overturned in order to end violence against all women in Britain.

UK political parties have been listening. The Government has committed to developing a ‘Together we can end violence against women and girls’ strategy by 2010, and a proposal for dealing with the problems facing women with no recourse to public funds, who cannot access refuges.

We need to keep up the pressure to ensure they fulfil these promises effectively.

The next step – lobby your MP

We need you to ask your MP for their support and commitment to help victims of violence against women – giving all women in the UK equal access to support and protection from violence.

If you would prefer to contact your MP via email, check out your MPs contact details on writetothem.com and have a read of our suggested requests for your MP  to include in your email.

If you are on Twitter and would rather tweet your MP, find out if your MP is also on Twitter by searching for them on Tweetminster – If they are, follow them (on Twitter). Then tweet your MP the message below, including the link as this will take your MP to a PDF with more detailed requests:

Make sure UK guarantees equal protection for all women in the UK facing violence http://bit.ly/2mLkH4

Spread the word

We want the government to be overwhelmed with requests for all women in the UK to have equal access to services and protection. This means that we need to get the word out – and we really need your help to do this.

Spread the message:

Lobby your MP to make sure that all women can access refuges and support services in Britain http://bit.ly/1gQTpJ

on Twitter using the hashtag #masslobby

On Facebook by updating your status, or by writing it on your friends’ walls

On your blog by posting about the lobby so that your fans find out about it. Even better, they might blog about it too, and then their readers might also blog on it and soon we will have an excellent end violence against women strategy that provides for all women, all over Britain.

Two of the items concern women’s rights in conflict and post conflict situations, one of the 2 most dangerous situations for women in today’s world.  In Bosnia and Herzogovina, the people who raped women during the 1992-1995 conflict have still not been brought to justice.  In Chadian refugee camps, women who have escaped the Darfur conflict continue to face further sexual violence and rape. 

In both of these cases, the women are not just victims of rape – but victims of how society relates to their situation. The Bosnian authorities have failed thousands of rape survivors by not providing them with the the support they need and the reparations they deserve for these war crimes.  In Chad, women are ostracised for having been raped and face rejection from current or prospective husbands; to add to their plight, it is the very people who are looking after the women in the camps that are raping them. 

Sexual violence is inescapable for these women. To varying degrees, violence against women is accepted by all societies  worldwide – making it an inescapable reality of our times. While politically unstable countries seem an obvious environment for mass violence against women, the other most dangerous envrionment for women is in fact the home. The home – that is, in any and every country. 

At last night’s launch of the book Created Equal, the pervasive nature of violence against women was brought into sharp relief.  Clips from Rape in the City (channel 4 Dispatches) showed how widespread violent attitudes towards women are in London.  An informal street interview with a group of young young men quickly revealed a belief that sexual violence serves as a just punishment for women who are seen to insult or offend them.  I was left in disgusted shock, seeing how casually and confidently these men relayed what they would do to ‘offending’ women; listening to a 14 year old girl talk about how she became the victim of gang rape left me reeling.

How to change this situation was a key question for last night’s panel. Damion Carnell of the Nottinghamshire Domestic Violence Forum believes we need to educate young men and boys on non-violence towards women. For producer of Rape in the City, Karen Edwards, it is perhaps raising awareness to incentivise people to take action in their own communities. For Patrick Stewart, who witnessed domestic violence against his mother when he was young, it is patronising and supporting women’s aid organisations and Amnesty’s Stop Violence Against Women Campaign.

So back to our homepage. It is because so many women face the horror of sexual violence everywhere that Amnesty reports so prolifically on it. It is startling to what level women are at risk from gender based violence (i.e. because they are women) in the world today.  It is of course our duty to shout about it, show people that women’s rights are being abused - and to give you the opportunity to do something about it. So here it is:  please pay attention to each item on the homepage and help women who have suffered or are suffering violence in Bosnia, Chad, here – and everywhere.

See Patrick Stewart talk about his ecperience of violence against women – watch the video below.

What are you doing this evening? Are you planning to see family or friends?

Imagine that they don’t show up.

At first you think nothing of it. They must be delayed, or maybe their phone is out of battery. But as the hours tick by, you begin to worry. You make a few calls, ‘Yes, they were at work today, I saw them leaving around 6pm’ says a colleague.

The next morning, when they still haven’t appeared, you go to the police. But they too, know nothing. In fact they are rather dismissive. You search frantically, but every turn leads to a dead end.

Now imagine that four years have passed, and you are no closer to knowing where they are.

For Amina Janjua, this is reality.

In 2005, her husband disappeared while taking a bus across Pakistan.

‘This is the worst thing to happen to anyone.’ she says, ‘If someone dies you cry and people console you and after some time you come to terms with it, but if someone disappears, you cannot breathe, it is the bitterest of agonies.’

When Amina was able to piece together the truth, she discovered that both her husband and his colleague Faisal had been taken into secret detention by the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency. Sadly for her, there has still been no official confirmation of what happened to them both.

Figures from the UN suggest that four people are subject to enforced disappearance every day, a crime that is often carried out by the state, or with their full knowledge.

Speak up for those that have been disappeared:

On social networks

1. Change your avatar to the image below:

2. Change your status e.g. I will not be contactable on Facebook / Twitter for the foreseeable future. Here’s why:  http://bit.ly/siSky

If you are on Twitter, you can add a Twibbon saying ‘Missing’ to show solidarity with the Day of the disappeared

3. [Twitter only] Change your location to ‘Unknown’ and your website to http://bit.ly/siSky [this page]

Act now

Email Justice Minister Jack Straw, urging the UK government to sign the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearance.

Speak up on five of our highlighted cases