Second Congressional Committee Targets International Violence Against Women

On October 21, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight held a hearing, “International Violence Against Women: Stories and Solutions.”

In a statement, Chair William Delahunt (D-MA) said, “Violence against women is on the rise around the world. It is time to examine what the Congress, the Obama Administration, and United Nations (UN) can do to stem this growing tide of violence. The World Health Organization estimates that violence against women causes more disability and death among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war. Violence against women also impedes a country’s economic stability, and creates security threats for neighboring countries and the international community – as oppression and weak governance go hand-in-hand.”

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues, said, “The reality is that violence against women is a humanitarian tragedy, a vicious crime, a global health catastrophe, a social and economic impediment, and a threat to national security. Violence against women knows no borders, nor class, race, ethnicity, or religion. It is a truly global plague, affecting women and girls at all stages of life. The numbers speak for themselves: one in three women worldwide is beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused over the course of her lifetime…It is very hard to talk about these stories. But I think it is necessary. And it’s not just DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo], Sudan, and Chad. A reported 500,000 women were raped in 1994 in Rwanda, and tens of thousands of rapes occurred during the warfare in Bosnia and Croatia. And the problem extends far beyond conflict zones: to Eastern Europe, where trafficking of women and girls remains prevalent; to regions in Africa, where an estimated three million girls are at risk of female genital mutilation every year, and to homes throughout the world, where women are beaten by members of their own families.” Rep. Schakowsky added, “I am proud to work with you, Mr. Chairman, on the International Violence Against Women Act, or I-VAWA, which will soon be reintroduced. This unprecedented legislation firmly establishes the prevention of violence against women as a foreign policy priority, and requires the coordination, across our government, on integrating this goal into every aspect of our diplomatic and development policy. I-VAWA’s approach is particularly groundbreaking because it takes a comprehensive, holistic approach toward the problem of violence against women. While there are already many programs that address specific facets of this international problem, I-VAWA is crucial because it creates a central coordinating mechanism, linking all American efforts to combat international violence against women.”

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer described several forms of violence against women in countries around the world, including female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage. “The United Nations estimates that two to three million girls and women each year are subjected to genital mutilation. Worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, that means that an estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women are currently living with the devastating physical and psychological consequences of this custom. The cutting is often performed in unsanitary conditions, without anesthesia. Girls who do not die of infection face a lifetime of medical complications and increased risk of maternal mortality…Confronting FGM requires concerted action at the level of the community. Tostan, an NGO [nongovernmental organization] in Africa, has effectively worked with community leaders, both male and female, to educate about the harmful health effects of the practice.”

With respect to child marriage, Ambassador Verveer said, “Girls who are married before they are physically and psychologically mature face damaging consequences from multiple causes: their childhoods are effectively curtailed; their education is terminated; their emotional and social development is interrupted. Physically, prepubescent girls are damaged from their marital rape, and, if they become pregnant, they experience greater risk of both death and chronic disability, such as fistula, than do older mothers. Worldwide, child marriage has been slow to change, according to UNICEF's ‘State of the World’s Children’ report. In the South Asia region, about 49 percent of women in their early 20s were married before the age of 18…Laws against child marriage are a good start, but we also need public awareness and public pressure to ensure the laws are enforced…Government programs that eliminate school fees, or that provide school meals or uniforms free of charge, have been effective at removing the obstacles that keep poorer families from educating their daughters, and incentive programs that provide families with staple foods for keeping girls in school can help reduce the appeal of marrying them off.”

Ranking Member Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) asked Ambassador Verveer whether the United States imposes penalties on countries that have poor records with respect to the treatment of women in their countries. She responded that while countries are ranked according to their treatment of women in the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report, the United States currently is bringing pressure to bear on countries like the DRC, saying, “These things do not happen overnight.” In response, Rep. Rohrabacher asked Ambassador Verveer to make specific suggestions for penalties the U.S. can impose on countries that violate women’s rights.

Mallika Dutt, executive director of Breakthrough, discussed a grassroots campaign underway in India that has engaged men and boys in combating violence against women. “Bell Bajao (Ring the Bell) is a multi-media campaign that calls on men and boys to take a stand against domestic violence. Launched last year with support from the UNIFEM-managed UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, Breakthrough created Bell Bajao in a pro bono partnership with the advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather. The Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development joined Breakthrough as a dissemination partner, and since September 2008, the campaign, which includes TV, radio, and print advertisements, has reached approximately 120 million people. Thousands of young men and women along with members of community-based organizations, who have been trained by Breakthrough to become catalysts for change in their own communities, have taken Bell Bajao into homes, schools, work places, community centers, health centers, and government offices. They conduct performances, puppet shows, and workshops on street corners, buses, train stations, and shopping malls and have one simple message – that ending domestic violence is everyone’s responsibility.”

Ms. Dutt also discussed the importance of the International Violence Against Women Act, saying, “I ask you to imagine how the voices of these hundreds of thousands of women could be strengthened if the International Violence Against Women Act – known as I-VAWA – became a reality, and American foreign policy made the ending of violence against women a priority in our diplomacy and foreign aid. As you consider the provisions of I-VAWA, I urge you to keep in mind the following recommendations: Invest in partnerships with local organizations and encourage bottom-up initiatives that can work effectively in their own contexts and create long-term sustainable change. Maintain a focus on women’s empowerment while partnering with multiple stakeholders, including men and boys, community leaders, religious institutions, and business heads. Make youth outreach and participation a key priority in order to transform cultural norms that permit violence against women and build the next generation of human rights leaders.”

“In 2005, Shared Hope International received funding through the U.S. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to undertake a comparative examination of the sex trafficking and sex tourism markets with an eye toward identifying demand reduction strategies in four diverse countries: Japan, Jamaica, the Netherlands, and the United States,” said The Honorable Linda Smith, founder and president of Shared Hope International, and a former member of Congress. “What we found was that demand is driving the markets and thriving due to the culture of tolerance that exists globally for the commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls. Without a buyer of commercial sex from a trafficking victim, there would not be a market…An equally disturbing finding related to the look into America. Expecting to find large numbers of foreign national women trafficked to the United States for commercial sexual exploitation, we were stunned to discover much larger numbers of U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident minors being exploited through the commercial sex industry. American girls of all colors and ages were found stripping and being prostituted in the VIP rooms of gentleman’s clubs, prostituted through escort agencies and Internet erotic websites, and controlled by pimps in the streets of Atlanta, Las Vegas, and the Washington, DC-Baltimore corridor.”

Ms. Smith added, “The United States is a recognized leader in the anti-trafficking battle and has signed and ratified the UN [Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking In Persons, Especially Women and Children], which provides that persons under 18 years of age who are used to perform commercial sex acts are victims of sex trafficking. This international standard is reiterated in the American anti-trafficking law, the TVPA 2000 [Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-386)]. The U.S. Department of State authors the ‘Trafficking in Persons Report’ each year, which measures the efforts of other countries in combating human trafficking in their respective countries. This evaluation has grown to include internal trafficking; countries that have not taken a firm position on preventing internal trafficking have been affected in the evaluation as a result. Also, Congress mandated an annual report issued from the attorney general detailing human trafficking in the U.S. and efforts under the U.S. government to combat it…With the knowledge that thousands of American minors are prostituted in the commercial sex industry, we must ask ‘How would the United States fare in such an evaluation?’”

Goodwill Ambassador for UNIFEM Nicole Kidman also testified.