Domestic violence is not only the number one public health issue facing women and children in the United States today, but is also an important human rights issue.
Today, in our own communities, hundreds of thousands of women and children, as victims of violence, are experiencing violations of their basic human rights, including the right to live with respect and dignity - free from fear. No one at home or abroad deserves to be hit, beaten, threatened, humiliated, or otherwise subjected to physical or emotional harm.
The following articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, describe some of the rights to which we are all entitled, rights which are often denied in a battering relationship.
Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights
Article 3: Everyone has a right to life, liberty, and security of person.
Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with (her) privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon (her) honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 28: Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
from "Domestic Violence: The Facts" - A Handbook to STOP violence (courtesy of Peace At Home (formerly Battered Women Fighting Back), Boston)