Features

In late October, for the second time that month, powerful voices came to Capitol Hill to ask for stronger measures to stop violence against women worldwide and to press for passage of the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA). At an October 21 hearing before the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, violence prevention experts including U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer and actress and UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman discussed the violence experienced by women and girls around the world. On October 1, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held its first-ever hearing on gender-based violence.

Calling herself a voice for the women she’s met in her role as UNIFEM’s Goodwill Ambassador Kidman said: “These champions need and deserve our support, not with a box of Band-Aids but with a comprehensive and well-funded approach that acknowledges that women’s rights are human rights… Everyone I work with at UNIFEM – and I – believe that I-VAWA, when passed, will be a beacon lighting the way forward for other countries.”

“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,” Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) testified. “I feel strongly that we must do more to help the women throughout the world whose lives have been forever altered by violence and the families, communities, countries, and even entire regions of the world that will never be stable, open and prosperous so long as violence against women in perpetuated.” She praised I-VAWA as a needed solution.

Subcommittee Chairman Bill Delahunt (D-MA) said he plans to re-introduce I-VAWA soon. “This legislation would systematically integrate and coordinate efforts to end violence against women in our foreign policy, promote women’s human rights and opportunities worldwide, support and build the capacity of local NGOs working to end the violence and, finally, to enhance training in humanitarian relief and crisis settings,” he said.

“We need a greater response to this global pandemic,” Ambassador Verveer agreed. “Women are critical to progress and prosperity, and when they are marginalized and mistreated, humanity cannot progress. When they are accorded their rights and afforded equal opportunities, they lift up their families, their communities and their nations. It is time that violence against women and girls become a concern for all of us.”

“If we believe that people have human rights, the rights of women to have equal treatment and to be free from violent attack just like men in their society, that should be right on the top of our agenda when we discuss human rights and other issues with these countries,” added Ranking Member Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA).

Breakthrough Founder and Executive Director Mallika Dutt and Shared Hope International President and Founder and former Member of Congress Linda Smith also testified.

New public opinion research commissioned by the Family Violence Prevention Fund and Women Thrive Worldwide finds that the majority of voters (61 percent) say addressing global violence should be one of the top priorities for the United States government. One in four voters says it should be the top priority. Read more about the research here.

“[I-VAWA] is the right thing to do, it’s the moral thing to do and it’s the smart thing to do,” Representative Delahunt said. “This past September we marked the 15th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act… and there’s no reason why we should not be commemorating the first anniversary of the International Violence Against Women Act next year.”

*Photo Credit: Mckenzie Lock, Women Thrive Worldwide.