[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 10 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. J. RES. 10

    Denouncing the practices of female genital mutilation, domestic 
 violence, ``honor'' killings, acid burnings, dowry deaths, and other 
   gender-based persecutions, expressing the sense of Congress that 
   participation, protection, recognition, and equality of women is 
crucial to achieving a just, moral and peaceful society, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 2009

  Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas introduced the following joint resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
    Denouncing the practices of female genital mutilation, domestic 
 violence, ``honor'' killings, acid burnings, dowry deaths, and other 
   gender-based persecutions, expressing the sense of Congress that 
   participation, protection, recognition, and equality of women is 
crucial to achieving a just, moral and peaceful society, and for other 
                               purposes.

Whereas human rights violations against women occur around the world and are not 
        limited to times of war, and have been committed for political gain, 
        personal advantage, ethnic hatred, and in the name of deities and 
        fundamentalist religious zeal;
Whereas, in many parts of the world, there is a culture of violence and 
        discrimination which denies women rights equal to those of men and which 
        legitimizes the exploitation of women for personal gratification, 
        political purposes, and financial gain;
Whereas despite the fact that in 1998, the United Nations International Criminal 
        Tribunal for Rwanda set a precedent in international law by establishing 
        and prosecuting rape and sexual violence in times of violent conflict as 
        war crimes and crimes against humanity, the rape of women continues to 
        be used as an instrument of armed conflict in the 21st century;
Whereas former Bangladeshi Prime-Minister Sheikh Hasina acknowledged that every 
        year in Bangladesh up to 200 women are horribly disfigured by acid 
        attacks by their spurned husbands or suitors, leaving many of them 
        blind, deaf, or dead;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, 6,000 women are subjected to genital 
        mutilation each day in North Africa, and 135,000,000 women, in at least 
        46 other countries, have undergone female genital mutilation worldwide;
Whereas Time Magazine reports that about 25,000 women in India each year are 
        doused with gasoline, set on fire, and burned to death because their 
        marriage dowries are deemed too small, and four out of five of these 
        attacks are not reported to or recorded by law enforcement agencies;
Whereas in many societies baby girls are denied food, drowned, suffocated, 
        abandoned, or their spines are broken simply because they are born 
        girls;
Whereas in China, where the male-child is traditionally prized above the female, 
        the ``one-child'' state policy has multiplied the rate of abandonment, 
        sex-selective and forced abortion and female infanticide, and yielded a 
        skewed population demographic;
Whereas Chinese demographics have exacerbated the abduction, trafficking, and 
        sale of Asian women and girls for the purposes of sex slavery and forced 
        marriage;
Whereas Amnesty International estimates that this year, more than 15,000 women 
        will be sold as sexual slaves in China;
Whereas, according to World Bank figures, at least one in five women and girls 
        around the world has been beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime;
Whereas the 2002 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe estimates that 
        the leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 through 44 is 
        the violence to which they are subjected in their own homes, and in the 
        Russian Federation alone, every day 36,000 women are beaten by their 
        husbands or partners;
Whereas in the United States, every day four women die as a result of domestic 
        violence, every year more than half a million women are battered, every 
        year 4,000,000 women are physically abused by their husbands or domestic 
        partners, one-third of American women report physical or sexual abuse by 
        a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, over 324,000 
        pregnant women are victims of intimate partner violence annually, the 
        majority of welfare recipients have experienced domestic violence as 
        adults, and domestic violence causes 100,000 days of hospitalization, 
        30,000 emergency room visits, and 40,000 visits to a doctor each year;
Whereas, the theme for the 2007 United Nations International Women's Day was 
        ``Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls'';
Whereas UNAIDS asserts that the best way to prevent HIV is to raise the status 
        of women because a woman's vulnerability to HIV infection is in direct 
        proportion to her lack of control over the risks of infection;
Whereas the inequalities between women and men have persisted and major 
        obstacles remain, with serious consequences for the well-being of all 
        people;
Whereas the situation of women is exacerbated by the extreme poverty that 
        affects the lives of the majority of the world's people, in particular 
        women and children;
Whereas families rely on mothers and wives for emotional support, labor, and 
        income needed to raise healthy children and care for other relatives;
Whereas, according to the United Nations, nearly 70 percent of the people who 
        live in abject poverty are women and women perform two-thirds of the 
        world's work, earn less than five percent of its income, and own less 
        than one percent of its property;
Whereas democracy, political stability, and economic development are linked to 
        the welfare of women and children, yet the United Nations estimates that 
        three of every four illiterate adults in the world are women and two-
        thirds of children denied primary education are girls;
Whereas the exclusion of women from the political process in many countries 
        makes them even more vulnerable to abuse;
Whereas as long as women and girls are undervalued, overworked, and subjected to 
        violence in and out of their homes, the potential of the human family to 
        create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized; and
Whereas the leadership of women is strongly linked to social justice, economic 
        prosperity, political stability, peaceful relations, and a healthy 
        population: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That--
            (1) Congress--
                    (A) denounces the barbaric practices of female 
                genital mutilation, domestic violence, ``honor'' 
                killings, acid burning, dowry deaths, and other gender-
                based persecutions and crimes;
                    (B) asserts that women are not chattel, should not 
                be trafficked, exploited, or sold for services, and 
                should not be denied the right to education, to 
                ownership of property, or to participate in full, 
                economic, social and political life;
                    (C) demands the cessation of these barbaric 
                practices and the dismantling of social and 
                institutional mechanisms which perpetuate systematic 
                discrimination against women and girls; and
                    (D) calls on all governments to pass enforceable 
                laws banning these practices, prosecute any individuals 
                who persecute or violate women and girls with these 
                acts, and pass measures to empower women and girls and 
                afford them equal access to educational, social, and 
                economic opportunities;
            (2) the President, in conjunction with fellow donor 
        countries, shall seek to promote the rights, health, and 
        empowerment of women in every aspect of their foreign 
        assistance to developing countries, and discourage continued 
        acts of violence against women and the impunity that often 
        accompanies these acts; and
            (3) it is the sense of Congress that--
                    (A) participation, protection, recognition, health, 
                and equality of women and girls are crucial to 
                achieving a just, moral, and peaceful society; and
                    (B) regardless of religion, geography, or form of 
                government, women should not be denied their human 
                rights, and those rights must be defended and enforced 
                when they are abridged, challenged, or violated.
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