Celebrate Women's History Month and Support our Partners

This month, we’ve been looking back at WITNESS’ past work with grassroots partners on women’s rights as part of our ongoing celebration of the International Women’s Day Centenary and Women’s History Month. The five videos we are spotlighting are available in our Web Store (DVD) and on ReFrame (video-on-demand). By purchasing these videos – Web Store DVDs are 20% off this month – you will support our current work, such as our campaign with the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice and their local partners to end gender-based violence in armed conflict and post-conflict situations. Simply use the code “march8″ at check-out to obtain the 20% discount in the Web Store.

Here are excerpts from the fifth, and most recent, video that we are highlighting in our series:

Hear Us features four women who have come forward to demand justice from the Zimbabwean government and the Southern African Development Community. In 2008, political violence erupted throughout Zimbabwe as a result of the contested national elections. Zimbabwean women of all ages, targeted for their political affiliations, were abducted from their workplaces and homes, raped, tortured, and beaten in secret torture centers. It is estimated that from May – July 2008, state-sanctioned groups raped over 2,000 women and girls. The local police have ignored these women’s pleas for protection and justice, and national leaders have been equally unresponsive to local and international demands for an end to the violence. In this video, women like Memory and Abigail who struggle daily with the physical and psychological scars of their abuse tell their stories to uncover the enduring effects of this violence on the women of Zimbabwe and their families.