Conference Report: Disarm Domestic Violence

On the 31st of March 2011, the Swedish section of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in cooperation with the Swedish section of Amnesty International, the Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR) and the Parliamentarian Forum on Small Arms held a conference on armed violence against women. The conference brought more than 80 participants together, from civil society organizations, embassies and government agencies, and was funded by the Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs.

The focus of the conference was on the interlinkages between Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and violence against women, i.e. how the presence of small arms in communities contribute to increased insecurity for women, as they are used to kill women, to facilitate rape and to prevent women from escaping violent relationships.