In the week marking the 150th anniversary of the Law Society's charter and the founding of Amnesty International by British lawyer Peter Benenson 34 years ago, it is fitting that the legal profession remembers those who endanger their lives to uphold basic legal principles such as fair detention and trials, freedom of expression and non-discrimination.

Lawyers working for the promoti on of human rights around the world frequently do so at great personal risk.

Many face harassment, imprisonment and torture.

In countries such as Turkey and Colombia defence lawyers have been the target of extra-judicial killings which many believe to be the work of the state.

Others have simply 'disappeared'.Women lawyers working in many countries have been subjected to harassment and spurious prosecution simply for doing their jobs.

But women frequently pay a double price: being persecuted for their sex as well as for their activities.In September, the fourth UN world conference on the rights of women is to be held in Beijing, China.

Amnesty International will mark the 34th anniversary of its launch on 'Forget-Me-Not' day on 28 May, and will concentrate on raising the profile of women human rights defenders.

These are women who have been victims of violence and discrimination as well as combatants against it.In its latest report, 'Human rights are women's right', Amnesty International points out that no country in the world treats its women as well as its men.

Many human rights violations are directed specifically against women.

Women are often seen as vulnerable.

Women and children make up the majority of the world's poor and are less likely than men to be given asylum as refugees.

They can be attacked by way of their sex economically, socially and physically.Despite the adoption by the UN General Assembly in 1993 of the declaration on the elimination of violence against women and the appointment of a special rapporteur on violence against women, Amnesty believes the deliberate violation of the human rights of women is a central component of military strategy in all parts of the world.

Gender-specific abuses are frequently directed at women by both government agents and armed opposition groups, including rape, sexual torture, flogging and execution.Torture is defined by the UN Convention Against Torture as 'any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'.

In many countries - particularly those which put a high social value on female chastity - enforced virginity tests, electric shock on the genitals, sexual assault and strip-searching are employed against women in custody to force confessions, to break the will of opponents and to discredit potential witnesses by destroying reputation and emotional well-being.Sexual torture can take a permanent psychological as well as physical toll.

One woman, repeatedly raped in a Nepalese refugee camp by soldiers, told Amnesty: 'On release I went home where I stayed for one month until I realised I was pregnant.

I was so ashamed that I couldn't face the other villagers...I went into the jungle, hoping I would die there...'Amnesty International has documented the use of rape in more than 20 countries in the last five years as a method of torture and as a 'spoil of war'.

The systematic rape of primarily Muslim women by Serb soldiers was part of the notorious campaign of 'ethnic cleansing' in Bosnia-Herzegovina and was orchestrated to drive ethnic groups out.Women who become victims of rape often suffer more than one trauma.

Some become pregnant or are infected by their attackers.

Many are treated as pariahs by their communities if it becomes known they are no longer 'pure'.

In the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, a married woman who has been raped runs the risk of being abandoned by her husband if she reports it.

The stigma surrounding rape leads to rape being used as a way of quashing dissent and destabilising communities.

The shame of rape can provide a charter of impu nity to the rapists.Rape's widespread use in times of conflict reflects the special terror it holds for women, the special power it gives the rapist over his victim, the special contempt it displays for its victims.

The use of rape in conflict reflects the inequalities women face in their everyday lives in peace time.In societies which place high value on female modesty and family honour (often predicated on the women members' sexual reputation) women subjected to sexual abuses can become social outcasts through no fault of their own.In Iran, women wearing 'immodest dress' can, under Iranian criminal law, be flogged 74 times.

If convicted of adultery they may be stoned to death.

In Sudan, women who do not comply with the dress code may receive 40 lashes; for prostitution, 100 lashes.Extra-judicial executions are carried out by both state and non-state agents.

In some Islamic countries, such as Algeria and Tunisia, there has been a rise in the killings of women who refuse to wear the hijab, or Islamic veil, by fundamentalist groups.

In Algeria, women face death threats from both fundamentalists and anti-fundamentalist groups.

The murder by an Islamist gunman of Katia Bengana, a teenage Algerian woman who was outspoken in her view that women should not be forced to wear the hijab, produced a threat from an opposition group that they would kill 20 veiled women.But executions of women are by no means restricted to violations of dress codes.

In Mozambique, women accused of witchcraft have been executed by firing squad.

In Egypt, it is legal for men to kill their wives for adultery.

Women killing their husbands for the same offence receive the death penalty.

Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, women may be flogged, imprisoned or put to death by stoning for adultery.

The sentence of death by stoning has been used illegally against women as punishment for adultery in Bangladesh by traditional courts of the local salish bench.It is tempting to feel, as Amnesty founder Peter Benenson once put it, 'a sickening sense of impotence' in the face of such atrocity.

Yet in spite of the proliferation of gender-biased abuses, or perhaps because of them, a notable increase in the number of women's organisations around the world in the last two decades has arisen.

This includes a rise in female activists and legal representatives in many parts of the world: some are lawyers seeking justice for the unrepresented, some campaign against torture, some against domestic violence, some for equal treatment at work or for land rights and access to credit.Opposite are three women lawyers from Pakistan, Turkey and Guatemala whose work in these areas has put them at risk.

Lawyers in Britain should not forget them.-- Eren Keskin, Turkey.

Turkey is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention Against Torture.

Despite this, it remains one of the most dangerous countries for defence lawyers to work in.

Already this year, two prominent lawyers have been murdered by unknown assailants, widely believed to be connected with the state security forces.

Many more have been arbitrarily detained, tortured, threatened and maliciously prosecuted.Lawyer Eren Keskin has faced repeated threats and harassment for acting for defendants accused of insurgent activities.

As these threats have frequently come from the police themselves, there is no-one for her to turn to for protection.

'The police are often to be found around the entrance to my office, and I get threatening telephone calls quite often - saying things like "we are measuring your coff in".' She is now appealing against a two-year sentence for spreading 'separatist propaganda' for a quotation about human rights violations against Kurds in south-east Turkey attributed to her, published in a German newspaper.Eren Keskin is being persecuted for speaking her mind.

The newspaper article which led to Eren Keskin's conviction did not in any way encourage violence.

On the contrary, its message was strongly non-violent.

She will therefore be considered a prisoner of conscience if incarcerated.

Although she is presently free on bail, her conviction for separatism has now been confirmed and Amnesty believes her imprisonment is imminent.-- Asma Jahangir, Pakistan.

Asma Jahangir is a prominent and well-respected human rights lawyer in Pakistan.

She is the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

During the 1993 elections in Pakistan the Human Rights Commission was invited to observe the election.

Asma Jahangir was placed in charge of 'election watch', monitoring the elections to ensure that no abuses occurred.She has recently been in the headlines for successfully arguing the appeals of Salamat Masih, a 14-year-old boy, and Manzoor Masih, an older man, both Christians, facing the death penalty for blasphemy.

The strength of feeling aroused by the case is demonstrated by the fact that a third defendant, Salamat's uncle Rahmat, was assassinated when leaving the court in Lahore where he was standing trial.

Pakistan's blasphemy law was introduced in 1986 under President Zia.

The death penalty became mandatory for blasphemy in 1991.

Salamat and Manzoor Masih were originally convicted but were acquitted on appeal to the High Court on 23 February 1995.

Asma Jahangir has faced death threats since she took on the defendants' appeal.She suffered abuse both outside and inside the court.

She was verbally abused inside court by attorneys for a militant group who subsequently incited a crowd to shout threatening slogans against her outside court.

Her driver was attacked, her car was smashed and she required a police escort to leave court.

Asma Jahangir and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan believe there is a real and continuing threat not only to Asma herself but to civil liberties themselves posed by the rise of militant fundamentalism and religious intolerance.-- Judge Maria Eugenia Villasenor, Guatemala.

Maria Eugenia Villasenor, an appeals court judge in Guatemala, is one of a number of judges who have reviewed controversial human rights cases over the years.

One is the case of the Manchester-trained anthropologist Myrna Mack, who was stabbed to death in September 1990 after publishing a book describing the effect of army activities on the indigenous communities of Guatemala's Western Highland.

One member of the military was convicted of Myrna Mack's murder and three others are currently being investigated.Judge Villasenor has been subjected to death threats and other acts of intimidation.

For example, 'voices' outside her home, and anonymous telephone calls to her home and to the court of appeals, threatened to kill her if she did not drop the case she was reviewing.

A police officer assigned to protect Judge Villasenor was abducted by three men in an unidentified pick-up truck.

They interrogated him about Judge Villasenor's activities, beat him with a weapon and advised him to quit his job.The supreme court relocated Judge Villasenor to the appeals court in the provincial city of Antigua, purportedly as a protective matter.

As her home remains in the capital, she is now faced with regular journeys of s everal hours by car along narrow and isolated rural roads, having to pass the roadside memorial to a former presidential candidate who was dragged from his car and shot a few years ago by unknown assailants.-- How lawyers can help.For Eren Keskin: please write politely to the following expressing concern at Eren Keskin's conviction under article 8 of the anti-terror law, and ask that article 8 be repealed or amended in conformity with article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which Turkey has ratified: Mr Mehmet Mogultay, Minister of Justice, Adalet Bakanligi 06559 Ankara, Turkey; fax 0090 312 434 4066.For Asma Jahangir: please write politely asking for an investigation of the threats made against her to: Mr ND Khan, Minister of Law, Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan; fax 92 51 822 628.For Maria Eugenia Villasenor: please write a letter in English or Spanish supporting Guatemalan judges' investigations into cases of alleged human rights violations, and expressing concern at the threats and acts of intimidation against judges and their families.

Invite Judge Villasenor to use your letter as a demonstration of international concern at the lack of protection of judges in Guatemala.

Judge Maria Eugenia Villasenor, Sala 9, Corte de Apelciones, Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala.Information on Asma Jahangir written by Francis Fitzpatrick; Judge Maria Eugenia Villasenor by Andy McEntree.'Human rights are women's right', Amnesty International Publications, 1995.

Available from Amnesty International, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ; price £6.99 plus £1 pp.