Women bear the brunt of war, Amnesty International says

[Tab]

LONDON (AFP) - Raped, treated as the sexual 'booty' of war or slain by indiscriminate bombings, women are too often the first victims of conflict, Amnesty International charged Wednesday in a report demanding legal redress.
...
"Patterns of violence against women in conflict do not arise 'naturally' but are ordered, condoned or tolerated as a result of political calculations," its secretary general Irene Khan said in introducing the 120-page report on women in war.

Not only are women "considered as the legitimate booty of victorious army," the report said, but "the use of rape as a weapon of war is perhaps the most notorious and brutal way in which conflicts impact on women."
...
Khan, the first women, the first Asian and the first Muslim to head Amnesty International, told AFP in an interview that "it's quite interesting to see that women rights have been used as justification for military intervention, in the cases of both Iraq and Afghanistan."
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041208/wl_afp/rights_amnesty_women_041208000947

[scarletlib]

1. so what else is knew in this crap ass world we live in?

Women and children always bear the brunt of all the evil tricks men think up to play on one another--the biggest of all of course is war.

[shanti]

8. you took the words right out of my mouth

n/t

[Skittles]

10. yes

that's why it pisses me off royally when some men complain about women not being in combat, like they don't pay their dues. Not only do women and children bear the brunt of war, they aren't in positions of power to prevent war.

[Englander]

2. Link to the Amnesty report....

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGACT770952004

[bleedingheart]

3. too bad we don't give these women tasers or small arms

to shoot the bastards who view them as "booty", however I realize that violence only begets more violence but my gut reaction is that they should be able to kill the bastards.

[electricmonk]

4. A passage from Kurt Vonnegut comes to mind

from Bluebeard

"The whole point of war is to put women everywhere in the condition that they would do anything for food or protection for themselves and the children and the old people," she said. "It's always men against the women, with the men only pretending to fight among themselves."

"They can pretend pretty hard sometimes," I said.

"They know that the ones who pretend the hardest," she said,"get their pictures in the paper and medals afterwards."

[xchrom]

5. yup-- that pretty much nails it.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

6. I see that Jamie Lee Curtis loves the Gropenfuhrer. Hmm. n/t

[WildClarySage]

9. Yes, it is all about establishing and keeping

a domination society in which not only women and children but also 'inferriors' are kept in their places.

(ed. for clarity)

[realFedUp]

7. but don't call it Abu Ghraib....

where women are oppressed, beaten, tortured,
parted from husbands and children, starved,
raped, unallowed to go to work or school or
hold a business, countries fail. We've failed as
a custodian of Afghanistan to provide for
the safety and independence of these women.

Just file it under "terrorism"....seems
to work for Bush Inc.