[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 170 (Monday, November 5, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2324-E2325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CALLING ON THE PRESIDENT AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO TAKE IMMEDIATE 
STEPS TO RESPOND TO AND PREVENT RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 
 AND GIRLS IN DARFUR, SUDAN, EASTERN CHAD AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 29, 2007

  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong 
support of H. Res. 726, to prevent and respond to acts of rape and 
sexual violence in the Darfur conflict region. This resolution calls on 
the President and the international community to recognize and respond 
to the horrific acts of sexual violence that are being committed by the 
Sudanese armed forces, the associated Janjaweed militia, and other 
armed combatants with alarming regularity. Women and girls in the 
crisis-affected region currently lack the medical and psychological 
services necessary to survive and recover from these personal 
atrocities. Today, Congress seeks to provide them with these basic 
services, and states our belief that the U.S. and the international 
community must continue applying pressure to the government in Khartoum 
to stop the use of rape and sexual violence as a tool of war.
  The United Nations has recognized that rape is being used as a 
systematic weapon of war and that combatants are encouraged to employ 
it as yet another way to brutally terrorize a population. The impact on 
the individual, however, must not be forgotten. Rape not only 
brutalizes the woman, it can also rob her of her dignity and privacy, 
often leading to her being shunned by her family and community. The 
international community has thus far been unable to prevent sexual 
violence from becoming an almost daily event in many conflicts, 
including the one in Darfur. So when Congress has an opportunity to 
protect and aid the victims of these attacks, we must do so.
  This bill calls on the President and international community to 
develop the Women and Girls of Darfur Initiative that would provide 
health care services, medical supplies, and psychological counseling to 
women in the conflict-affected region. The resolution also calls for 
preventative measures such as ensuring that a hybrid United Nations-
African Union peacekeeping force is deployed to protect women and girls 
from acts of rape and sexual violence. Since the Sudanese Government 
refuses to provide its own women this protection, the hybrid 
peacekeeping force must be accorded all the necessary resources, 
including the $724 million that the U.S. has pledged to fund the U.N.'s 
mission in Darfur.
  I sincerely hope my colleagues will join me and over 100 other 
cosponsors of this bill in fulfilling our moral obligation to protect 
the basic human rights of the women and girls in Darfur and the 
surrounding region.
    

[[Page E2325]]

                       SENATE COMMITTEE MEETINGS

  Title IV of Senate Resolution 4, agreed to by the Senate on February 
4, 1977, calls for establishment of a system for a computerized 
schedule of all meetings and hearings of Senate committees, 
subcommittees, joint committees, and committees of conference. This 
title requires all such committees to notify the Office of the Senate 
Daily Digest--designated by the Rules Committee--of the time, place, 
and purpose of the meetings, when scheduled, and any cancellations or 
changes in the meetings as they occur.
  As an additional procedure along with the computerization of this 
information, the Office of the Senate Daily Digest will prepare this 
information for printing in the Extensions of Remarks section of the 
Congressional Record on Monday and Wednesday of each week.
  Meetings scheduled for Tuesday, November 6, 2007 may be found in the 
Daily Digest of today's Record.

                           MEETINGS SCHEDULED

                               NOVEMBER 7
     9:30 a.m.
       Small Business and Entrepreneurship
         Business meeting to markup an original bill entitled, 
           ``Small Business Contracting Revitalization Act of 
           2007''.
                                                           SR-428A
       Veterans' Affairs
         To hold an oversight hearing to examine the performance 
           and structure of the United States Court of Appeals for 
           Veterans Claims.
                                                            SD-562
     2 p.m.
       Judiciary
         To hold hearings to examine the United States government 
           enforcement of intellectual property rights.
                                                            SD-226
     2:30 p.m.
       Commerce, Science, and Transportation
       Science, Technology, and Innovation Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine carbon sequestration 
           technologies.
                                                            SR-253

                               NOVEMBER 8
     9:30 a.m.
       Environment and Public Works
         To hold hearings to examine S. 2191, to direct the 
           Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
           establish a program to decrease emissions of greenhouse 
           gases.
                                                            SD-406
     10 a.m.
       Commerce, Science, and Transportation
         To hold hearings to examine localism, diversity, and 
           media ownership.
                                                            SR-253
       Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
         To hold hearings to examine ways to protect the 
           employment rights of those who protect the United 
           States.
                                                            SD-430
       Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
         To hold hearings to examine the nominations of Robert D. 
           Jamison, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary for 
           National Protection and Programs, and W. Ross Ashley, 
           III, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Administrator of 
           the Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of the 
           Department of Homeland Security.
                                                            SD-342
       Judiciary
         Business meeting to consider S. 352, to provide for media 
           coverage of Federal court proceedings, S. 2135, to 
           prohibit the recruitment or use of child soldiers, to 
           designate persons who recruit or use child soldiers as 
           inadmissible aliens, to allow the deportation of 
           persons who recruit or use child soldiers, S. 2248, to 
           amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 
           1978, to modernize and streamline the provisions of 
           that Act, and the nominations of Michael J. Sullivan, 
           of Massachusetts, to be Director, Bureau of Alcohol, 
           Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Joseph N. Laplante, 
           to be United States District Judge for the District of 
           New Hampshire, Reed Charles O'Connor, to be United 
           States District Judge for the Northern District of 
           Texas, Thomas D. Schroeder, to be United States 
           District Judge for the Middle District of North 
           Carolina, and Amul R. Thapar, to be United States 
           District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
                                                            SD-226
       Joint Economic Committee
         To hold hearings to examine the current economic outlook.
                                                            SH-216
     2 p.m.
       Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
         To hold hearings to examine outstanding issues relating 
           to the 1992-1995 conflict in Bosnia, focusing on 
           violent ethic cleansing, and how they shape politics, 
           society, and economic development in Bosnia.
                                                        B-318-RHOB
     2:30 p.m.
       Foreign Relations
       Near East and South and Central Asian Affairs Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine Syria, focusing on options 
           and implications for Lebanon and the surrounding 
           region.
                                                            SD-419
       Energy and Natural Resources
       National Parks Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine S. 86, to designate segments 
           of Fossil Creek, a tributary to the Verde River in the 
           State of Arizona, as wild and scenic rivers, S. 1365, 
           to amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management 
           Act of 1996 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior 
           to enter into cooperative agreements with any of the 
           management partners of the Boston Harbor Islands 
           National Recreation Area, S. 1449, to establish the 
           Rocky Mountain Science Collections Center to assist in 
           preserving the archeological, anthropological, 
           paleontological, zoological, and geologic artifacts and 
           archival documentation from the Rocky Mountain region 
           through the construction of an on-site, secure 
           collections facility for the Denver Museum of Nature 
           and Science in Denver, Colorado, S. 1921, to amend the 
           American Battlefield Protection Act of 1996 to extend 
           the authorization for that Act, S. 1941, to direct the 
           Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and 
           feasibility of designating the Wolf House, located in 
           Norfolk, Arkansas, as a unit of the National Park 
           System, S. 1961, to expand the boundaries of the Little 
           River Canyon National Preserve in the State of Alabama, 
           S. 1991, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 
           conduct a study to determine the suitability and 
           feasibility of extending the Lewis and Clark National 
           Historic Trail to include additional sites associated 
           with the preparation and return phases of the 
           expedition, S. 2098, to establish the Northern Plains 
           Heritage Area in the State of North Dakota, S. 2220, to 
           amend the Outdoor Recreation Act of 1963 to authorize 
           certain appropriations, and H.R. 1191, to authorize the 
           National Park Service to pay for services rendered by 
           subcontractors under a General Services Administration 
           Indefinite Deliver Indefinite Quantity Contract issued 
           for work to be completed at the Grand Canyon National 
           Park.
                                                            SD-366
       Intelligence
         Meeting of conferees on proposed legislation authorizing 
           funds for fiscal year 2008 for the intelligence 
           community.
                                                    S-407, Capitol

                              NOVEMBER 13
     10 a.m.
       Small Business and Entrepreneurship
         To hold an oversight hearing to examine the Small 
           Business Administration, focusing on preventing loan 
           fraud and improving regulation of lenders.
                                                           SR-428A
     2:30 p.m.
       Energy and Natural Resources
         To hold an oversight hearing to examine the Surface 
           Mining Control and Reclamation Act (Public Law 95-87), 
           focusing on policy issues thirty years later.
                                                            SD-366

                              NOVEMBER 14
     9:30 a.m.
       Veterans' Affairs
         Business meeting to markup pending legislation; to be 
           immediately followed by a hearing to examine the 
           nomination of Michael W. Hager, of Virginia, to be an 
           Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Human 
           Resources and Management).
                                                            SD-562
     10 a.m.
       Energy and Natural Resources
         To hold hearings to examine the Global Nuclear Energy 
           Partnership relating to the United States policy on 
           nuclear fuel management.
                                                            SD-366
     2 p.m.
       Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
         To hold hearings to examine sovereign wealth fund 
           acquisitions and other foreign government investments 
           in the United States, focusing on economic and national 
           security implications.
                                                            SD-538

                              NOVEMBER 15
     9:30 a.m.
       Armed Services
         To hold hearings to examine the state of the United 
           States Army.
                                                            SH-216

                             CANCELLATIONS

                               NOVEMBER 7
     10 a.m.
       Rules and Administration
         To hold hearings to examine the Government Accountability 
           Office report focusing on funding challenges and 
           facilities maintenance at the Smithsonian Institution.
                                                            SR-301