[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 186 (Tuesday, November 14, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S7215]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Isakson, and Mr. 
        Menendez):
  S. 2120. A bill to prevent international violence against women, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today, I join my colleagues, Senators 
Shaheen, Isakson, and Menendez, in introducing the International 
Violence Against Women Act of 2017. This legislation makes ending 
violence against women and girls a top diplomatic priority. It 
permanently authorizes the State Department's Office of Global Women's 
Issues and the position of the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's 
Issues. It requires the Administration to develop and implement an 
annual strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and 
girls for each of the five years after the date of enactment. This bill 
would ensure that efforts begun under President George W. Bush and 
President Obama to combat gender-based violence continue in future 
Administrations.
  Mr. President, we have witnessed great strides in women's equality in 
our own Country, and in much of the world, over the past century. 
Across vast swathes of the globe, however, violence against women and 
forced marriage remain everyday problems. 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. This type 
of violence ranges from domestic violence, rape, and acid burnings to 
dowry deaths and so-called ``honor killings.'' Violence against women 
and girls is a human rights violation, a public health epidemic, and a 
barrier to solving global challenges such as extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS, 
and conflict. Such violence is often exacerbated in humanitarian 
emergencies and conflict settings.
  In Iraq and Syria, girls and women have been abducted from their 
homes and villages, sold into sexual slavery, and forced into marriages 
with fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In Burma, 
rape is used as a weapon against the women and girls of the Rohingya 
ethnic group. In Nigeria, girls as young as 11-years-old are offered a 
horrendous choice by Boko Haram: carry out suicide bomb attacks against 
Nigerian villages or live in forced marriages and sexual slavery.
  This systemic targeting of women is not confined to conflict zones. 
In India, the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against 
women said that they experience such crimes ``from womb to tomb.'' 
Compounding this tragedy, local police often decline to investigate or 
seek justice. In Afghanistan, women and girls are concerned that as 
Western forces draw down and attention shifts away from their country, 
the fragile gains that have been made there could be lost.
  The International Violence Against Women Act--IVAWA--ensures that the 
U.S. will continue to take a leadership role in combatting these 
problems. It establishes that it is the policy of the United States to 
take action to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls 
around the globe and to systematically integrate and coordinate efforts 
to address gender-based violence into U.S. foreign policy and foreign 
assistance programs.
  Specifically, IVAWA will foster efforts in four areas. First, it will 
increase legal and judicial protections by establishing and supporting 
laws and legal structures that prevent and appropriately respond to all 
forms of violence against women and girls, including ``honor killings'' 
and forced marriage. Emphasis will be placed on promoting political, 
legal, and institutional reforms that recognize violence against women 
and girls as a crime and train police and the judiciary to hold 
violators accountable and to respond to the needs of victims. Second, 
IVAWA will increase efforts to build health sector capacity, 
integrating programs to address violence against women and girls into 
existing health programs focused on child survival, women's health, and 
HIV/AIDS prevention. Third, IVAWA will focus on preventing violence by 
changing community norms and attitudes about the acceptability of 
violence against women and girls. And fourth, IVAWA will focus on 
reducing women and girls' vulnerability to violence by improving their 
economic status and educational opportunities. Efforts will include 
ensuring that women have access to job training and employment 
opportunities and increasing their right to own land and property, 
allowing them to potentially support themselves and their children.
  Violence has a profound effect on the lives of women and girls. In 
addition to being a pressing human rights issue, such violence 
contributes to inequality and political instability, making it a 
security issue as well as a moral issue for us all. I am committed to 
continuing to work with my colleagues to end violence against women and 
girls and to provide the assistance and resources necessary to achieve 
this goal.
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