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The schools’ Amnesty International group have been taking
part in Amnesty’s Stop Violence against Women campaign. The group has been
focusing on the human rights violations occurring in Guatemala. For over ten
years, women in Guatemala have been raped, tortured and killed with the
authorities failing to bring those responsible to justice.
In 2005 Claudina Velásquez, 19, was shot in the head and
both Amnesty and her father fear that due to a seriously flawed trial, justice
will not be found.
The women in this area are also under serious threat of
sexual and domestic violence from the military forces in the region. The level
of sexual and domestic violence is high and due to the extreme poverty in parts,
accessing justice is virtually impossible. Due to the lack of services in these
areas the only courts are military courts. This means that there is no impartial
or independent justice as the military are being tried in military courts.
As part of their campaign, the Amnesty group has made
Guatemalan worry dolls as a visual protest to the human rights abuses against
women in Guatemala. These dolls will be sent to Amnesty and used as part of a
larger campaign.
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