Amnesty’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign and Control Arms have joined forces to produce a new report: ‘The Impact of Guns on Women’s Lives’.

Women want guns out of their lives.

The report claims women are paying an increasingly heavy price for the dangerously unregulated global arms trade. At the moment there are 650 million small arms in the world (equivalent to one gun for every ten people) and most of these weapons belong to men – with the result that women and girls suffer directly and indirectly from armed violence.

Women are particularly at risk from domestic violence related to small arms. In South Africa, a woman is shot dead by a current or ex-partner every 18 hours, while in the US having a gun in the home increases the risk a woman will be murdered by 272 per cent. Rape incidents are also fuelled by the prevalence of arms, and rape is increasingly used as a weapon of war.

“It is often claimed that guns are needed to protect women and their families but the reality is totally opposite,” says Amnesty International’s Denise Searle. “Women want guns out of their lives.”

The report makes a series of recommended changes to international laws. Among these are compulsory national gun licences, training police to better respect women’s rights and the equal participation of women in all peace processes as well as demobilisation. The report also calls for an international arms trade treaty that would prohibit arms exports to those likely to use them for human rights violations.

The report is a collaboration between Amnesty’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign and the Control Arms campaign. Stop Violence Against Women aims to secure the adoption of laws, policies and practices that stop discrimination against women, while Control Arms aims to reduce arms proliferation and misuse and to convince governments to introduce a binding arms trade treaty.