Amnesty International Praises Senators Kerry and Lugar for Commitment to Protecting Women
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear testimony on Thursday to support groundbreaking legislation that addresses the global crisis of violence against women and girls. Amnesty International praised Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) for their commitment to the International Violence Against Women Act and urged reintroduction of the bill, which would apply the force of U.S. diplomacy to fight violence against women in selected countries.
Violence, abuse and exploitation of women has reached epidemic proportions, with the United Nations Development Fund for Women estimating that at least one of every three women globally -- nearly a billion women -- will be beaten, raped, mutilated or otherwise abused during their lifetime.
"Every day, women and girls around the world are abused and killed with impunity," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "It is a moral outrage and the United States has a duty to try to stop the violence, which is rooted in a global culture that discriminates against women and denies them equal rights. The International Violence Against Women Act will give the United States a comprehensive way to respond to this urgent challenge."
In 2005, Amnesty International USA, the Family Violence Prevention Fund and Women Thrive Worldwide convened meetings to develop legislation that became the International Violence Against Women Act, recognizing that violence is a worldwide problem that needs to be addressed in a comprehensive way and that stand-alone programs are not enough. More than 150 U.S.-based experts, including 40 women's groups overseas, gave advice on the bill. More than 60 human rights, women's, humanitarian, development and faith-based organizations support the draft legislation.
The draft legislation had recommended creation of one central State Department Office for Women's Global Initiatives, which President Obama created early in his presidency.
Betsy Hawkings, Amnesty International USA's deputy executive director for research and policy, said: "Just yesterday, three reports by Amnesty International underscored the urgency of the ongoing human rights crisis of violence against women. These reports of public rapes of protesters by soldiers in Guinea, lack of access to justice for war crimes victims in Bosnia, and rape of refugee women and girls both inside and outside camps in eastern Chad, despite the presence of UN security forces, clearly illustrate the urgency for action on this critical legislation."
The International Violence Against Women Act includes provisions to support survivors of violence, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent violence. Efforts to end violence against women and girls would be integrated into existing, appropriate U.S. foreign assistance programs. The law would also give the United States greater capacity to develop emergency measures to respond to mass rape during conflict, including efforts to provide direct services to the victims and to hold the perpetrators accountable.
In testimony submitted for the hearing, Amnesty International said that while violence against women takes many forms -- domestic violence, female genital mutilation, honor killings, to name a few -- the crisis exacerbates instability and insecurity around the world.