[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 17 (Thursday, February 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S484-S485]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Snowe, and Ms. 
        Collins):
  S. 2982. A bill to combat international violence against women and 
girls; to the Common on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my support for the 
International Violence Against Women Act, introduced today by Senators 
Kerry, Boxer, Snowe, and Collins. I am proud to be an original 
cosponsor on this legislation simply because it has the power to save 
the lives of women and girls around the world while increasing our 
safety here at home.
  This bill is particularly significant because it would be a very 
significant effort by the U.S. to tackle this egregious and widespread 
problem. One out of every three women worldwide will be physically, 
sexually or otherwise abused during her lifetime, with rates reaching 
70 percent in some countries.
  Ranging from rape to domestic violence and acid burnings to dowry 
deaths and so-called honor killings, violence against women and girls 
is an extreme human rights violation, a public health epidemic and a 
barrier to solving global challenges such as extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS 
and conflict. It devastates the lives of millions of women and girls--
in peacetime and in conflict--and knows no national or cultural 
barriers.
  Women who are abused are not only more likely to face serious injury 
or death because of abuse, but are at much greater risk of dying in 
pregnancy, having children who die in childhood, and contracting HIV/
AIDS.
  What many people don't realize though is that violence against women 
and girls is a major cause of poverty. Women are much more likely to be 
among the world's poorest, living on a $1 a day or less, and the 
violence they face keeps them poor. It prevents them from getting an 
education, going to work, and earning the income they need to lift 
their families out of poverty. In turn, women's poverty means they are 
not free to escape abuse, perpetuating a vicious cycle that keeps women 
from making better lives for themselves and their families.
  In Nicaragua, for example, a study found that children of victims of 
violence left school an average of 4 years earlier than other children. 
In India, it has been found that women who experienced even a single 
incident of violence lost an average of 7 working days. Sometimes, the 
workplace itself can be a source of abuse: in Kenya, 95 percent of the 
women who had experienced sexual abuse in their workplace were afraid 
to report the problem for fear of losing their jobs.
  Greater economic opportunity and earning capacity not only allows 
women an option of escaping violent situations, but more importantly, 
it increases equality and mutual respect within households, reducing 
women's vulnerability to abuse in the first place.
  Women around the world are working desperately to change the laws and 
customs in their countries that routinely allow women and girls to be 
raped, beaten or deprived of any legal rights, even the ability to see 
a doctor or leave the house alone. But they need our help.
  IVAWA is a good step in that direction.
  The bill was developed in consultation with more than 150 expert 
organizations, including the input of 40 women's groups from all around 
the world.
  Highlighting the cross-cutting nature of the issue of violence, the 
bill is supported by a diverse coalition of almost 200 NGOs, including 
Amnesty International USA, Women Thrive Worldwide, Jewish Women 
International, Family Violence Prevention Fund, CARE, United Methodist 
Church, and Refugees International.
  This bill would direct the State Department to create a comprehensive 
5-year strategy to reduce violence against women and girls in up to 20 
countries and provide vital funds to foster programs in these countries 
that address violence in a coordinated, comprehensive way. It would do 
this by reforming legal and health sectors, helping to change social 
norms and attitudes that condone rape and abuse, and improving 
education and economic opportunities for women and girls.
  Because violence against women is often rampant in countries 
embroiled in conflict or crisis, this bill also requires that the U.S. 
act in cases of extreme outbreaks of violence against women and girls, 
like the horrific levels of rape experienced by women in the Democratic 
Republic of Congo.
  This legislation is necessary because this is not an academic issue--
we must remember that the scourge of gender-based violence effects real 
women around the world.
  But there are solutions.
  When Dulce Marlen Contreras started her organization with seven of 
her friends, the first thing on her mind was how to help the women of 
Honduras protect themselves from domestic violence. A daughter of 
farmers in the rural region of La Paz, Honduras, Marlen was tired of 
watching the women of her community endure widespread alcoholism and 
household abuse.
  In 1993, Marlen founded the Coordinadora de Mujeres Campesinas de La 
Paz, or COMUCAP, to raise awareness about women's rights. The 
organization started by educating women in the community about their 
rights and training them to stand up for themselves.
  As time went on, Marlen noticed something was missing. While 
awareness-building was critical, in order to reduce violence for the 
long-term COMUCAP had to attack the problem at its root: poverty. ``We 
realized that until women are economically empowered, they will not be 
empowered to escape abuse for good,'' says Marlen. Seeing this link 
changed the way COMUCAP approached its work. It started training women 
to grow and sell organic coffee and aloe vera, helping them to earn an 
income for their families.
  Initially the reaction from the community was hostile--women's 
empowerment was seen as a threat to families. As COMUCAP's programs 
grew, however, they started seeing results--the more money women made, 
the more power they were able to assert in the household.
  As the community started to view the women of COMUCAP as economic 
contributors to its families, more and more women made decisions 
jointly with their husbands and stood up for themselves and their 
children in the face of abuse. Today COMUCAP provides employment and 
income to over 256 women in its community. Household violence has 
reduced drastically within the families of COMUCAP.
  This example clearly illustrates that violence against women is 
preventable and that there are proven solutions that work. Even more 
inspiring, there are many thousands of local organizations like COMUCAP 
worldwide, which work within their own communities to support women in 
violent situations, help them find ways to support themselves and 
change cultural attitudes within their communities.
  By supporting funding to overseas women's organizations to enable 
them

[[Page S485]]

to work independently, IVAWA encourages this type of grassroots 
sustainability that will be crucial to any permanent solution to 
violence.
  Violence has a profound effect on the lives of women and girls, and 
therefore, all communities around the world. As a member of the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee, I am committed to continue to work with my 
colleagues to fight to end it and to provide any assistance and 
resources necessary to achieve this goal.
                                 ______