[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 45 (Thursday, March 31, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               UNFPA AND THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 31, 2011

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, imagine a country where women are 
systematically raped, children are given guns to fight wars and most of 
the population struggles to live on $2 a day. This horrific almost 
unimaginable scenario is the reality for women and children in the 
Democratic Republic of Congo. This month, the House Foreign Affairs 
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights held a very 
timely and important hearing on the crisis in the DRC and what America 
can do to help address the situation and end the violence.
  The systematic and relentless sexual violence faced by women in the 
DRC is an unconscionable violation of human rights. In 2008, I 
introduced H. Res. 1227 which reaffirmed our chamber's abhoration and 
condemnation of rape as a weapon of war in the Congo.
  The systematic rape of women in the DRC must end and this was 
forcefully were raised at the hearing by witnesses including Cindy 
McCain and Ms. Francisca Vigaud-Walsh of Catholic Relief Services. I 
could not agree more.
  In the Congo, many international actors are working to end the 
violence and they need the support of the US as they work in a very 
difficult political environment to end the violence.
  UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, plays a key leadership 
role on the ground in addressing sexual based violence in the DRC. 
UNFPA aids survivors of sexual violence by providing medical care, 
economic and social rehabilitation, and legal assistance. The Fund has 
trained thousands of armed forces on protection and care for survivors.
  In Kasai Oriental, North and South Kivu, thanks to global support for 
UNFPA's efforts, over 15,000 sexual violence survivors have received 
medical care. In camp Kibaki, home to 200,000 displaced people, UNFPA 
provides kits to test for and treat sexually transmitted infections, 
post exposure cleansing for rape cases and clean safe delivery kits.
  Moreover, UNFPA played a key advocacy role in the 2006 adoption of 
the DRC law on sexual violence, expanding it to include sexual 
harassment, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization and other brutal 
practices.
  Yet, the House Republicans passed an appropriations bill calling for 
zero funding for UNFPA. This is both unconscionable and nonsensical. 
Why would we have a hearing to call attention to the dire situation in 
the DRC and how America can help and then at the same time defund one 
of the key international organizations addressing the needs and well 
being of rape survivors?
  I recall back to 2008 when my colleagues in the U.S. Senate held a 
similar hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee several 
Republican Senators expressed their shock and dismay in learning about 
the violence and in particular the incidence of traumatic fistula from 
rape. Why, they asked, is not more being done? These were the same 
Senators who had voted to defund U.S. support to UNFPA--the lead agency 
addressing fistula. This would be ironic if it was not so 
irresponsible.
  My Republican colleagues raised the same tired and discredited 
arguments about UNFPA's country program in China earlier this month. 
UNFPA is clearly and firmly on the record in opposition to the heinous 
``one-child policy'' and continue to promote changes in China to a 
human-rights-based and voluntary approach to family planning. It is 
UNFPA who has raised the issue about the dramatic gender disparity and 
societal imbalance that results from sex-selection abortion and how 
critical it is to end this practice and promote the well being of 
girls. Indeed, what UNFPA's small human rights based program in China 
is doing are exactly the kind of pressure my Republican colleagues 
claim they want to see happen in there. Moreover, we have a 
longstanding agreement on language that ensures that in our 
contribution to UNFPA, no U.S. funds are spent in China, no U.S. funds 
are spent on abortion services and all U.S. funds are kept in a 
segregated account to be able to track these things. We are the only 
one of UNFPA's 180 donors who put restrictions on our contribution.
  In the coming weeks as decisions are made on the final budget, it is 
imperative that the United States continues its financial and moral 
support for the life-saving work of UNFPA. The women in the Democratic 
Republic of Congo and everywhere else where UNFPA works are counting on 
us.

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