The Obama Campaign has already trumpeted Sen. Joe Biden's work as author, sponsor, and rustler-up of votes on the Violence Against Women Act, which was passed under President Clinton and renewed under President Bush. Biden himself cites it as one of the accomplishments he's most proud of in the Senate. This moving video put out by the Obama campaign details soberly the real-life ramifications of the bill, through an interview with a woman who survived battering and even a horrific shooting at the hands of her former partner.
There's no question VAWA has made an impact on women's lives at home. But what people may not know is that Biden is also the co-writer of a bill currently in committee called the International Violence Against Women Act. I-VAWA is backed by three major NGOs, Amnesty International USA, Women Thrive Worldwide, and the Family Violence Prevention Fund, and the support of dozens more.
The I-VAWA is a little bit different in focus than its US counterpart, because the American government obviously does not have the same level of jurisdiction over foreign courts, laws, and funding direction as it does at home (although no doubt Dick Cheney would like it otherwise). What this particular bill aims to do, then, is direct US aid in ways that specifically help end gender-based violence, from educational programs to health aid to special training for peacekeeping forces.
Empowering Women Worldwide
The bill broadly defines violence as anything from domestic abuse to the sex trade to rape and torture against women during times of war. According to Amnesty's website for I-VAWA, "At least one out of every three women worldwide are beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, with rates reaching 70% in some countries."
It also aims to raise awareness of the fact that discrimination and abuse against women is a scourge across much of the world--and directly hinders economic development in the places it's needed most.
What's fascinating about I-VAWA, beyond its strong condemnation of violence is its recognition of a growing consensus that everyone from UNIFEM to Condoleeza Rice has embraced: the empowerment of women as a key to ending poverty, famine and disease in distressed regions of the world.
"Violence against women and girls violates their basic human rights. It prevents girls from going to school, stops women from holding jobs, and limits access to critical healthcare for women and their children," wrote Biden and the bill's co-author, Republican Senator Dick Lugar in an op-ed this June, urging passage of the bill.
The bill, S.2279,
contains several prongs. It would take effect as an amendment and update to the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
New Centralized Offices
First, the bill creates two offices
to help boost the effort. A centralized State Department office, the Office of
Women's Global Initiatives, would include a committee directly concerned with
violence against women. This would be a central office coordinating all
anti-violence against women efforts at the international level, as well as
stressing sensitivity and rapid response to gender-based violence when the
state Department responds to foreign crises or conflicts. The other office, the
Office of Global Women's Development at
the Agency for International Development (USAID), is envisioned as
integrating violence prevention efforts into already-existing overseas
assistance programs.
Directing Funding to Programs Already in Place
Second, I-VAWA would direct $175 million a year to programs that specifically deal with the problem of violence against women internationally, from helping public awareness campaigns that aim to alter social norms and taboos harmful to women, to the criminal justice system and courts. But the funded programs would also include programs that help women's status internationally by directing funds to improve women's health, women's economic empowerment, and women's access to education.
In a website
Q&A section on the bill, Amnesty emphasizes that the bill does not
represent the US foisting cultural mores on other nations. Instead, "local
women's organizations who have been working for years to assist women and girls
affected by violence in their countries will finally get the help they
deserve."
Training Peacekeeping Forces
Third, I-VAWA would mandate that all international, UN, and foreign troops trained by US forces be given added instruction on how to prevent gender-based violence and respond to it during times of crisis or conflict. It also would seek to improve disciplinary and reporting measures for those troops who themselves engage in acts of violence against women. The bill also advocates for more female peacekeeping troops.
Sitting in Committee
The bill, first introduced in July 2007, remains in committee in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Biden chairs. A companion bill in the House, H.R. 5927, was introduced this past April, by California Representative Howard L. Berman, and is also in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Both versions of the bill have bipartisan support, but one can assume its fate is tied up with Biden's.
I-VAWA is critical bill on two levels. First, it continue the good work of the domestic VAWA, by recognizing the rights of women to bodily freedom and safety as one that should be intrinsic but is frequently threatened. But even beyond that, it recognizes what activists have been saying for a good while now: getting rid of obstacles to women's equality is a surefire way to spur development in economically struggling regions, lift entire communities out of poverty, and end some of the social conditions that lead to conflict.
Biden's role in I-VAWA has been critical. "Senator Biden played an instrumental leadership role in drafting the IVAWA as well as Senator Lugar, " says Maureen Greenwood-Basken, Acting Managing Director of Government Relations and Advocacy Development at Amnesty International USA. "We hope that the upcoming administration will be a champion for women's rights globally and the US. We call on them in the first 100 days to take decisive steps to stop violence against women."
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