The Government is failing to meet its human rights obligations to protect women from domestic violence, Amnesty International claims.
Amnesty claimed support services for women experiencing violence in the family were being "stretched beyond their limits".
Unveiling its worldwide Stop Violence Against Women Campaign, Amnesty called for urgent action by every man and women to end "this human rights atrocity".
Secretary-general of Amnesty's Irish section, Mr Colm O Cuanacháin, said groups in Ireland that provide shelter for women experiencing violence were being overwhelmed by demand.
Mr O Cuanacháin said in 1999 two out of three women who sought refuge accommodation in the Eastern Regional Health Authority were refused, mainly because they were full.
He said: "In some counties there are no refuges at all. . . . The Government is failing to meet its human rights obligations to protect women in their homes."
Of 10,248 home violence incidents reported to gardaí in 2002, 91 per cent of offenders were male, and 92 per cent of complainants were female.
Mr O Cuanacháin also called for the needs and rights of refugees who he says often "arrive in Ireland as victims of sexual violence and gender-based crimes" to be respected.
Former Irish president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Mary Robinson, said: "Violence against women is huge problem". She said what she liked about Amnesty's campaign "is that it's going to be all of us, men, women, girls, boys who are going to have to tackle this problem".