International Violence Against Women Act
Violence Against Women
© UNICEF/ HQ07-0792/David McKenzie
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been the scene of the most vicious, terrible sexual violence imaginable, against women and girls of all ages. The calculated sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups—both rebels and the DRC army—was and is often of unimaginable brutality.
In her role as a U.S. Fund for UNICEF ambassador, actress Lucy Liu traveled to visit areas of DRC most affected by the conflict and related sexual violence. She said: "You don't really get a sense of how horrifying it is until you go into the areas…I met a lot of young girls who had been brutally raped."
One out of every three women worldwide will be physically, sexually or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Violence against women and girls includes rape, domestic violence, acid burning, dowry deaths, so-called honor killings, human trafficking, female genital cutting and other harmful practices. Whatever the form of violence, it is an extreme human rights violation.
Violence against women and girls has a terrible impact on the lives of children—on girls who suffer from attacks, and on girls and boys who must cope with the effects of violence. That is why UNICEF works to address violence against women, and the discrimination and disempowerment that women and girls face throughout their lives.
The good news is that violence against women and girls is preventable. The world has made much progress over the past three decades to stop violence and discrimination against women—by passing laws that fight violence against women and children, building child-friendly schools that help keep girls in school and protect them from violence, and adopting international treaties against abusive child labor and trafficking.
The United States supports international programs that address violence against women and children. However, U.S. foreign assistance funding and policy in this area are not nearly as effective as they should be.
The International Violence Against Women Act (S. 2279) seeks to improve U.S. leadership in challenging violence against women and girls worldwide. This bipartisan legislation, introduced by the Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), would integrate anti-violence work across U.S. foreign assistance programs, and signifi-cantly increase U.S. commitment to help eliminate violence against women and girls. The bill focuses on efforts that work—programs like support services for survivors of violence, fostering economic development for women, preventing violence against girls in schools, and conducting campaigns to change public attitudes and social norms.
The Act also requires that the State Department identify "critical outbreaks" in which violence against women and girls is being used as a weapon of intimidation and abuse in armed conflict or war, or is escalating in an environment of impunity, and to take emergency measures to respond to the outbreaks.
By promoting women's economic opportunity, addressing violence against girls in school, and working to change public attitudes, the IVAWA could have a huge impact on reducing poverty—freeing women in poor countries to lift themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty.
YOU CAN HELP by urging your Senators to take a stand against violence against women and children by cosponsoring this important and bipartisan legislation.
