IPAS BRAZIL LAUNCHES COLLABORATION TO FIGHT DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE

August 28, 2003 – (IPAS) With the slogan “Don’t Be Afraid, Report the Crime,” Ipas Brazil and the Center for Popular Education and Assistance (CEAP) recently launched Project AMPARO, a collaborative initiative to form a network of comprehensive services for women and adolescent victims of domestic and sexual violence in Northern Brazil.

The two-year project aims to create a system to help women who are victims of violence obtain medical care, psychological support, legal assistance and other needed services. Its name, AMPARO, means "refuge" and is an acronym for the Portuguese phrase "Affirmative Actions for Care, Prevention and Assistance to Women Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence."

“By training personnel working in health care, law enforcement and other relevant areas, we hope to increase understanding of how sexual violence affects women and of women’s diverse needs after undergoing such a trauma,” said Ipas Brazil director Dr. Leila Adesse. She said the project will also emphasize creation of effective referral mechanisms among medical, judicial and other services.

Other objectives include raising public awareness of the incidence and impact of domestic and sexual violence and increasing public involvement in prevention and in the defense of women’s rights.

“It is important to fight so that all types of violence will cease to occur and so that we can all live in peace,” said Dr. Ida Peréa, president of Unimed Rondônia, at the Aug. 13 event launching the project. “Living safely and in peace is a right of all individuals, including women.”

Unimed, a private health-care cooperative, is providing financial support for the AMPARO project, along with the Ford Foundation. The initiative has also been endorsed by the Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Rondônia (SOGIRO) and the Brazilian Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FEBRASGO).

CEAP, Ipas’s principal partner in the AMPARO project, is an 18-year-old nongovernmental organization that focuses on community development and popular education in the Brazilian state of Rondônia, using a human-rights approach. CEAP has collaborated with the state government on projects related to women's heath and youth and adult education, and with other NGOs on projects focusing on gender, violence, health and human rights.

For more information, contact:

Merrill Wolf
Senior Associate, Public Information
email: wolfm@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.7687

From: http://www.ipas.org/english/press_room/2003/releases/08282003b.html