The Issue
Violence against women and girls in India is widespread. Despite some progressive legislative measures in recent years, brought about due to pressure from women’s rights movements, the media and public campaigns, many women continue to experience discrimination and violence in their everyday lives.
Gender-based violence takes place in both public and private spheres. It is often under-reported as a result of systemic and social barriers, and formal mechanisms to address it remain ineffective.
Women from Dalit, Adivasi and other marginalised communities are disproportionately affected by sexual violence. Their marginalisation also narrows their avenues to access justice.
Troll Patrol India
India is one of the largest and fastest growing audience markets globally for Twitter, a social media platform. Touted as a ‘safe place for free expression’, Twitter was envisioned to be a space where marginalised populations, including women, Dalits and religious minorities, would have an equal opportunity to make their voices heard. Over the years, the social media platform has evolved into an indispensable tool for political engagement, campaigning and activism, but has the vision translated into reality? Many women do not believe so. Every day, women on Twitter face a barrage of abuse: from racist and sexist attacks to rape and death threats. Online abuse has the power to belittle, demean, intimidate and eventually silence women.
It’s what women have long been telling the world. We now have the data to back it up. With the help of 1,912 Decoders from 82 countries and 26 states in India, we analysed 114,716 tweets that mentioned 95 women politicians in India over a three-month period around the 2019 General Elections in India. This helped us conduct an unprecedented analysis of online abuse against Indian women politicians on Twitter!
Read more about our findings here.
Campaigns
21 March 2018 Online Violence Against Women Amnesty International India has launched a campaign to address online violence faced by women on social media platforms like twitter. Online violence against women, that is, violence directed at women because of their gender, is a barrier to their enjoyment of their rights to equality and freedom of expression.
19 September 2017 Transgender Rights Are Human RightsLast August, the central government introduced a highly flawed bill on transgender rights in the Parliament. Therefore, the bill was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC), which invited suggestions from the public and civil society organisations. Amnesty International India made a detailed submission to the PSC on the Bill on 28 December 2016. On 12 August, Amnesty International India launched a missed call petition to rally support for amendments to be made to the 2016 Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill.
19 September 2017 Ready To ReportAccording to government data, for every one woman who faces sexual violence and reports it to the police, there are 99 that do not. Ready to Report is a campaign to ensure that women who choose to report sexual violence can do so safely and without facing prejudice.
News
18 July 2020 बलात्कार की शिकार महिला के समर्थन नेटवर्क में शामिल लोगों को जमानत देने से इनकार किया जाना लिंग-संबंधित विषयों के प्रति संवेदनशील न्यायपालिका की ज़रुरत की ओर साफ़ इशारा करता हैबिहार के अररिया जिले के मजिस्ट्रेट द्वारा बलात्कार का शिकार हुई एक महिला और कानूनी प्रक्रियाओं में उनकी मदद कर रहे दो सामाजिक कार्यकर्ताओं के साथ कठोर व्यवहार के बारे में प्रतिक्रिया व्यक्त करते हुए एमनेस्टी इंटरनेशनल इंडिया के कार्यकारी निदेशक
20 March 2020 Death Penalty Doesn’t End Violence Against WomenMukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Thakur were executed today for the gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in 2012.
23 January 2020 भारत में महिला राजनेता ट्विटर पर करती हैं चौंका देने वाले पैमाने पर दुर्व्यवहार का सामना; एमनेस्टी इंटरनेशनल इंडिया के अध्ययन का खुलासालेकिन, कई महिला राजनेताओं ने एमनेस्टी इंटरनेशनल इंडिया ने बताया कि किस तरह महिलाओं के अधिकारों के संरक्षण करने की अपनी ज़िम्मेदारी में ट्विटर विफल हो रहा है।
Blogs
21 May 2020 The Women Warriors Fighting COVID-19 At The Frontline: ASHA Workers Left Without HopeIndia’s crippling health system is today at the forefront of the country’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. At the very centre of this public health system, stand over 900,000 women called as ASHA workers who are taking on the pandemic – unarmed, unseen and unheard.
17 May 2019 Life After 377, And The Road AheadToday, on May 17, we at Amnesty India celebrate the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOTB). This IDAHOTB, we reflect on the events that changed the lives of many Indians in the last one year and brings you the voices from the community.
13 March 2019 Opinion: Prohibition, Permission And (Beyond) Pleasure‘Prohibition’, ‘permission’ and ‘pleasure’ and the linkages between them – unlikely bedfellows? Why I thought of these words is something I would like to share with you through some examples of human rights violations
