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Gender and Human Rights Violations Manuals to be Published

Two innovative manuals on a standardized gender-sensitive methodology for documenting human rights violations will be published tomorrow by Amnesty International ? Canada and Rights & Democracy.

MONTREAL, November 24, 1999 Two innovative manuals on a standardized gender-sensitive methodology for documenting human rights violations will be published tomorrow by Amnesty International ? Canada and the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development.

A Methodology for Gender-Sensitive Research and a companion booklet Documenting Human Rights Violations by State Agents: Sexual Violence are being launched on November 25 to coincide with the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence ? which continues until December 10, International Human Rights Day.

"We are very proud to be contributing to the global efforts to recognize women's rights as human rights and to join with Amnesty International to better document human rights violations against women," said Warren Allmand, the President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (ICHRDD).

"It is important to have accurate and consistent documentation of women's rights violations, in monitoring the adherence of governments and the international community to agreements and treaties," noted Roger Clark, the Secretary General of the English Branch of the Canadian section of Amnesty International.

Agn?s Callamard of Amnesty's International Secretariat in London wrote the manuals while the Women's Rights Programme of the ICHRDD coordinated by Ariane Brunet, oversaw the research project and sponsored its publication in French and English.

For the first time Amnesty International ? Canada, the Secretariat of Amnesty International in London, and the Montreal-based International Centre have pooled their expertise and resources in this project designed to assist local activists, non-governmental organizations and other agencies to collect, analyze and disseminate information on violence against women.

The companion booklet Documenting Human Rights Violations by State Agents: Sexual Violence provides a step-by-step description of a gender-sensitive approach to research and suggests ways of addressing the specific challenges faced by women's rights workers. It focuses on the monitoring and documenting of specific categories of women's rights violations, helps the reader prepare for fact-finding missions and provides guidelines for the collection and analysis of evidence.

Three more booklets are planned. They will address the issue of documenting human rights violations in the family, in the community and in armed conflict.