Students collect signatures, photos to stop violence against women

Some 1,000 signatures and 1,000 photos of women were collected by students yesterday in Plaza Miranda, Manila to stop violence against women around the world.

In a statement, Amnesty International Pilipinas said it was a "public day of action" and a "die-in protest" beside the tombstones of women who died in the hands of their husbands or partners nationwide because of domestic gun violence.

Amnesty International Pilipinas also issued a slogan, "Women Under Fire," to strengthen and develop Amnesty’s huge international youth membership and achieve the specific objectives of the "Control Arms and Stop Violence Against Women" campaigns.

The campaign started on March 27 and will end today. Youth activists worldwide campaigned to raise awareness about the impact of domestic gun violence against women during the 2006 International Week of Student Action (IWSA).

Amnesty International members in 26 countries have supported seven days of concerted international youth effort to highlight the problem of armed domestic violence and to rally around the Control Arms campaign’s 100 Days of Activism, the group said.

"We aim to add 20,000 pairs of eyes to the "Million Faces" petition as it witnesses a critical finale. New alliances  bringing together women’s groups  and arms control campaigners will be formed during the week. A lobbying action will also call on states to treat family violence as a serious crime equal to assaults  in other context," the unsigned statement of Amnesty International Pilipinas read.

Symbolic public actions attacking global arms proliferation are taking place in many countries this week. Other activities lined up for the rest of the IWSA include film nights, theater shows, concerts, conferences, appearances on radio and local television programs.