PRESS RELEASE
August 15, 2005
Contact: Richard Davis, <>
Amnesty International Under Fire for Sex Bias
Washington, DC., Aug. 15/05/TRC Media/ – Amnesty International has
come under fire for gender bias in its current family violence
campaign, which groups are calling misleading and false.
On July 22 Amnesty International issued a press release claiming
an "epidemic" of family violence and announcing a grassroots
campaign to push for rapid Congressional approval of the Violence
Against Women Act. [http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0722-10.htm]
The Amnesty announcement ignored the fact that women are just as
likely to commit family violence as men, and men sustain over one-
third of injuries arising from domestic violence
[http://www.mediaradar.org/research.php#waj]
"Amnesty International is giving the impression that domestic
violence is a problem that only affects women. That's a slap in the
face to the 835,000 men who are assaulted by their partners every
year," according to RADAR spokesman Mike Geanoulis. "Amnesty is
creating a human rights double standard that leaves male victims
silenced and forgotten."
The groups that are criticizing Amnesty's family violence program
include the American Coalition for Fathers and Children; National
Congress of Fathers and Children, New Hampshire Chapter; Stop Abuse
for Everyone; and RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic
Abuse Reporting).
Recently Boston Globe columnist Cathy Young called for VAWA
to "abolish the special role of feminist-dominated domestic
violence coalitions in shaping federally-funded domestic violence
programs."
[http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/07/25/ending_bias_in_domestic_assault_law/]
"Amnesty International was once a respected human rights
organization," explains Mike Geanoulis. "But now their campaigns
seem to be based more on ideology than on actual violations of human
rights."
R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to improve the effectiveness of our nation's approach to solving domestic violence. http://mediaradar.org.
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