[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5641-5642]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, no one can deny the contributions 
women and children have made to this country and the world. In 
government, business, education, medicine, the arts, and athletics, 
women have met and exceeded the great challenges placed before them. It 
is altogether fitting, then, that we set aside one day every year to 
pay tribute and acknowledge these accomplishments: March 8, 2003 is 
International Women's Day.
  On this day, we celebrate the progress women and girls have made over 
the years, but we also renew our commitment to create a better world 
and bestow a better future to women and girls in every country. We must 
not rest on our laurels until all women and girls enjoy basic human 
rights and have the opportunity to fulfill their life dreams.
  Rarely does a day go by when we do not hear the news of a woman 
fighting for those rights and those dreams, whether it be a girl 
struggling to get an education in Afghanistan, a mother desperately 
seeking to provide for her children in sub-Saharan Africa, or a woman 
expressing her views in the streets of Venezuela. We who enjoy the 
blessings of liberty and democracy have an obligation to raise our 
voice on behalf of these women and girls to let them know that they are 
not alone and we are fighting for them.
  All over the world, women and girls are looking to the United States 
for leadership and I would like to take this time to address several 
critical issues that I believe are vital to their lives: international 
family planning assistance, the Convention on the Elimination of All 
Forms of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW, rape as an instrument of 
war, and the plight of women in Afghanistan.
  Honest differences of opinion exist on this issue, but I believe that 
those of us in Congress who support a robust package of U.S. assistance 
to international family planning organizations must not back down. I 
was dismayed when on July 22, 2002 Secretary of State Colin Powell 
decided to withhold the $34 million U.S. contribution to the United 
Nations Population Fund, UNFPA--an amount allocated to it by law and 
after months of negotiation and with bipartisan support--because he 
determined that UNFPA participated in coercive family planning programs 
in China. The administration's decision to withhold the funds and 
withhold $25 million for Fiscal Year 2003 runs counter to common sense 
and counter to the findings of its own investigative team.
  Just over a month earlier a three member State Department team 
investigated UNFPA programs in China and concluded quite clearly that 
there was no evidence that UNFPA supported or participated in coercive 
family planning programs and recommended that it receive the full U.S. 
$34 million contribution. Nevertheless, the Administration chose to 
ignore these findings and, in doing so, struck a terrible blow to U.S. 
leadership in combating overpopulation.
  One can not underestimate the importance of family planning 
assistance, especially for the poor. The United Nations estimates that 
the world's population will double to 12 billion by the year 2050. Most 
of this growth will occur in countries least able to sustain it and 
educational and medical services will suffer greatly as a result. In 
the age of global terrorism where groups such al-Qaida find new 
recruits among the poor, the sick, and the uneducated, this is 
especially troubling.
  No woman should be prevented from receiving the assistance she 
deserves to plan and care for healthy families. When we help them, we 
reduce poverty, improve health, and raise living standards.
  Each and every dollar the United States spend on international family 
planning assistance--none of which, I might add, is spent on 
international abortion--is one less dollar we will have to spend on 
costlier interventions in the future.
  So many of my colleagues share my view and together we must work 
harder to ensure that the United States reclaims its leadership role on 
international family planning and reproductive issues. On International 
Women's Day, I urge my colleagues to support

[[Page 5642]]

full funding for the UNFPA and other international family planning 
programs.
  Sadly, another year has gone by and the United States still has not 
yet ratified the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination 
Against Women. As Americans, we can no longer afford to ignore this 
important document and put in jeopardy our status as a leader in 
advancing human rights for women and girls.
  Given that it has been over 20 years since President Carter signed 
the Convention, one might think that the delay in ratification is due 
to the fact we are dealing with a treaty that requires years of study 
and consideration. Yet the Convention simply requires that 
participating states take all appropriate steps to eliminate 
discrimination against women in political and public life, law, 
education, employment, health care, commercial transactions, and 
domestic relations.
  We are alone among the leading democracies in our failure to ratify. 
In fact, our partners outside the Convention include Iran, North Korea, 
and Sudan. Are these the countries with whom we share our values of 
democracy, freedom, and respect for human rights? Are these the 
countries we can count on in the international arena?
  Women and girls around the world who turn to the United States for 
leadership in advancing their rights are mystified that we do not take 
the simple step of ratifying the Convention. When we do, the sky will 
not fall, the sun will rise in the morning, and the Constitution will 
still be the law of the land.
  By ratifying the Convention, the United States will reclaim its 
leadership status as a champion of the rights of women and girls and 
send a strong signal of warning to those states who abuse those rights.
  On International Women's Day, I call on my colleagues in the Senate 
to move forward and ratify the Convention.
  The use of rape as an instrument of war is a gross violation of the 
basic human rights of women and girls and I have worked hard over the 
years to raise awareness about this issue. The United States must work 
closely with our friends and allies in the international community to 
eliminate this practice once and for all.
  We have seen far too often in recent years how soldiers have used 
rape in an organized, systematic, and sustained manner to intimidate, 
spread fear, and ethnically cleanse entire communities. In Bosnia, 
Rwanda, and East Timor, women were kidnaped, interned in camps and 
houses, forced to do labor and subjected to frequent rape and sexual 
assault.
  Those who committed these crimes did not believe that anyone was 
watching. They were wrong.
  On February 22, 2001, the international tribunal in the Hague 
sentenced three Bosnian Serbs to prison for rape during the Bosnian 
war. Judge Florence Mumba of Zambia stated, ``Lawless opportunists 
should expect no mercy, no matter how low their position in the chain 
of command.''
  Last year, in response to a report co-authored by the Shan Women's 
Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation, I and 31 other 
Senators wrote to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to urge him to 
investigate rape cases by Burmese soldiers between 1996 and 2001 
involving 625 women and girls.
  The report was based on interviews with refugees on the Thai-Burmese 
border. It found that the rapes were committed mostly by officers in 
front of their troops and that 61 percent were gang rapes and 25 
percent ended in the murder of the victims. The victims included girls 
as young as 5 years old.
  The Burmese junta did not make a serious effort to investigate the 
cases. It called the report ``totally false and unjust'' and sought to 
discredit the authors.
  Those who committed these heinous crimes in Burma must be brought to 
justice. The United States and the international community must 
continue to put pressure on the Burmese regime to come clean and take 
substantive action to punish those responsible.
  I commend the victims who overcame their fears to report what 
happened in Burma. I am hopeful more women and girls who have suffered 
the same crime will come forward and speak up. On International Women's 
Day, I urge the administration and our friends and allies to join me in 
continuing the fight to end the practice of rape as an instrument of 
war.
  The situation for most women and girls in Afghanistan has improved 
since the fall of the Taliban. Nevertheless, there is still a great 
deal of work to be done and I am concerned that the administration is 
not paying enough attention to the reconstruction of Afghanistan in 
general and the condition of women and girls in particular.
  The United States Congress made a strong statement in support of the 
women and girls of Afghanistan by passing the ``Afghan Women and 
Children Relief Act of 2001'' and the ``Afghan Freedom Support Act of 
2002''. Now we must follow up with sufficient funding. I was proud to 
co-sponsor an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2003 Omnibus appropriations 
bill that directed $8 million of the money appropriated for 
humanitarian aid to Afghanistan towards programs that support women's 
development: $5 million to the Ministry of Women's Affairs, $1.5 
million to the Human Rights Commission, and the rest to USAID.
  The future for women and girls in Afghanistan is by no means assured. 
There are credible reports that in Herat, the local governor Ismail 
Khan has censored women's groups, intimidated women leaders, and 
removed women from his administration. In all parts of Afghanistan, 
women still fear abuse from authorities, avoid attending school, and 
face undue harsh restrictions.
  I am particularly concerned to learn of reports that police in Herat 
are detaining women and girls caught with unrelated men and forcing 
them to undergo medical examinations to determine if they recently had 
sexual intercourse. I and my colleague from California, Senator Boxer, 
wrote to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State 
Colin Powell urging them to put pressure on Ismail Khan to stop these 
practices and do more to protect the rights of women and girls.
  Our victory in Afghanistan will be lost if women and girls are not 
afforded basic human rights. On International Women's Day, let us 
reaffirm our commitment to them for a better future and let us let them 
know that we will not turn our backs on them again.
  We must debate and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All 
Forms of Discrimination Against Women. We must rededicate ourselves and 
our resources to international family planning programs. We must not 
ignore the use of rape as an instrument of war. We must help the women 
and girls of Afghanistan realize their hopes and dreams.
  We cannot afford to remain silent. We cannot afford to place women's 
rights on a second tier of concern of U.S. foreign policy. On 
International Women's Day, the United States and the international 
community must take a strong stand and issue a clear warning to those 
who attempt to rob women of basic rights that the world's governments 
will no longer ignore these abuses, or allow them to continue without 
repercussion.

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