Senator Cardin:

Violence against women ranges from gang rape to domestic violence and from acid burnings to so-called honor killings. It also includes sexual violence as a tool of war, such as what is now occurring on a vast scale in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has become a serious public health epidemic and a barrier to solving global problems such as poverty and HIV/AIDS. It devastates the lives of millions of women and girls, and it knows no national or cultural barriers.

Women who are abused frequently die or face serious injury and are at much greater risk of dying in pregnancy, having children who die in childhood, and of contracting HIV/AIDS.

What most people don’t realize is that violence against women is also a major cause of poverty. Typically, women are much more likely to be among the world’s poorest, living on a dollar a day or less. Violence reduces their standard of living by preventing them from accessing education or earning the income they need to lift their families out of poverty. In turn, poverty often prevents them from fleeing, perpetuating a vicious cycle that keeps millions of women from making better lives for themselves and their families.

In Nicaragua, for example, a study found that children of female victims of violence left school an average of four 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 seven working days.

Key line: “Our response to violence against women must include men and women working together to elevate the problem beyond “a domestic matter,” and beyond a “women’s issue.” Ending violence against women around the world is a human rights issue…” (Emphasis mine).

You can read her full post here. Some background on the IVAWA here.

Every day around the world, a war is waged against women and girls. Approximately one out of every three women globally has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Violence against women includes abuse by spouses or partners in the home, rape as a weapon during times of war, dowry-related deaths and forced prostitution. This abuse is a global health crisis, an egregious human rights violation, and a moral outrage that knows no geographic or cultural barriers.

But what many people don’t realize is that violence against women is also a major cause of poverty. Violence keeps women from getting an education. Violence keeps women from earning an income to help lift themselves and their families out of poverty (research has shown that economic opportunity empowers women to escape abusive situations).

Today, Senator Kerry (D-MA), Senator Snowe (R-ME), Senator Boxer (D-CA), Senator Collins (R-ME), Congressman Delahunt (D-MA), Congressman Poe (R-TX), Congresswoman Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) and others will reintroduce the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). IVAWA is the most comprehensive piece of legislation addressing violence against women and girls worldwide. This bipartisan bill would support proven best practices for reducing gender-based violence. It would expand our government’s ability to prevent violence against women caught in conflict, support grassroots organizations already working to effectively combat violence in their communities, and would make it globally known that the U.S. is committed to ending violence against women and girls.

To help make IVAWA a priority, please send a message to your Representative and Senators at www.WomenThrive.org/ivawa and ask them to co-sponsor IVAWA. To find out more information about IVAWA, or to read about other ways to get involved, visit www.WomenThrive.org/ivawatools.

- Mckenzie Lock, Women Thrive Worldwide

MAKAMBA PROVINCE, BURUNDI – For Céline Mpitabakana and her husband, Jean, saving enough money to buy a small plot of land was always a fond but distant dream. In 1993, the couple had been forced to flee their home in Makamba Province in southern Burundi as civil war engulfed the country.

After 14 years living as refugees in neighboring Tanzania, in 2007, Céline, Jean and their six children, returned home, settling in a fishing village nestled on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Like everywhere in Burundi, the memories of crisis and turmoil remained fresh. All told, more than 200,000 people were killed and one million people displaced during Burundi’s 16-year long conflict that officially ended only this year

The Mpitabakana family faced the prospect of starting their lives over with little more than what they had brought back with them from exile. Then Céline heard about a unique project sponsored by the International Rescue Committee: a local village savings and loan association designed to offer low interest loans to members of the community. Each week members of the association gather together and agree to set aside small sums of money which are then used to make loans to members. The low percentage interest payments help the group build capital in the form of shares that are paid out after one year.
Céline initially joined her local association hoping to earn enough money to support her children. She came away with much more.

She used her “share-out” from the fund to buy the small patch of land she and her husband had always dreamed about. With the money left over she opened a small store where she sells bananas, flour and fish.

At the same time, Céline and her husband took part in discussions sponsored by the association that encouraged the couple to share more equally in household decisions and work.

“My husband started asking me more questions and now he listens to what I have to say,” Céline said. “Before he just did what he liked and wasted money on beer, which made him fight with me. Now, we make decisions together.”

Tamah Murfet, who manages the IRC’s program in Burundi, said that not only did the associations support women’s economic empowerment they also played a crucial role in encouraging women to take a bigger role in decision making.

The associations also create a strong sense of community. Members meet in each other’s homes, check in when someone misses a meeting, and contribute to an emergency fund in case someone needs extra help.

A village savings and loan association in Nyanza-Lac. Photo by Nadine Ntahuba/IRC.

For Céline, being part of an association helped ease the feelings of alienation and hopelessness she felt when she first returned home. “Now all our children are in school and our souls are calm.”

To learn more about the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence and the International Rescue Committee’s work, visit theIRC.org/endviolence.

A crowd of people lined the hall of the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday to attend a hearing hosted by Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight. With testimony from Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL), Ambassador of Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, Founder of Breakthrough Mallika Dutt, former Rep. Linda Smith and Actress and UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman, the hearing discussed the International Violence against Women Act (IVAWA), an effort to bring violence against women to the forefront of American foreign policy.

Each panelist provided a unique perspective on the issue, but all agreed on one principle: violence against women should be a priority for U.S. foreign policy. Schakowsky began the hearing with a grim message: over the course of their lifetimes, at least one in three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused. Delahunt continued, emphasizing that violence against women is not merely a woman’s issue or a problem for the developing world, but a concern for everyone. Verveer agreed. She stressed that everyone must act now “to eliminate this worldwide scourge.” Dutt remarked that we must include youth in order to make lasting change. Kidman echoed her fellow participants, adding that violence against women knows no borders and needs support at the highest levels of leadership.

Women in conflict particularly face unimaginable brutality. Quoting Major General Patrick Cammaert, former UN Peacekeeping Operation Commander in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Delahunt remarked that it is now more dangerous to be a woman than it is to be a soldier in conflict: in the DRC alone, 1,100 rapes are reported each month. Schakowsky reiterated this sad fact, adding that rape has become a systematic weapon of war. However, ending violence against women is more than a moral issue, said the panelists: doing so is in our own national interest and the interest of nations around the world. According to Delahunt, it is also a national security issue. Girls’ education, he explained, has proven to be an effective tool against extremism and terrorism.

Schakowsky remarked that violence against women also prevents them from actively participating in their communities, thus depriving societies of their important contributions. Verveer explained that there cannot be vibrant civil society, good governance or economic prosperity if half of the population is left out. The goals set by the international community will not be met without the voices of women, Kidman concluded.

The overarching message was clear: violence against women cannot be relegated to the margins of foreign policy. Check out ONE partner Women Thrive Worldwide for more information on IVAWA and how you can get involved.

Also, check out this clip from CNN on the hearing and Nicole Kidman’s participation in this important movement.

-Jen Fraser and Pooja Gupta

The new agency’s mandate will be to “promote the rights and well-being of women worldwide and to work towards gender equality.” Currently, the UN’s gender programs are scattered across various agencies through four different programs: UNIFEM, the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW). The new entity will be headed by an Under-Secretary General who reports to the UN’s Secretary General, on par with agencies like UNICEF and UNHCR.

Groups that have been campaigning for the body (such as Gender Equality Architecture Reform, or GEAR) hope that a composite, super-agency will not only raise the prominence of gender issues on the global agenda but also boost funding for women through the UN, which they say has been low under the current structure. GEAR and others are calling for $1 billion in start-up money for the new agency (for comparison, the 2007 budgets for UNICEF and UNIFEM in 2007 were $129 million and $3 billion, respectively).

There is no doubt that the step is a good one for the world’s women, especially those living in the world’s poorest countries. For over two decades, development experts have been saying that countries who invest in education, health and economic opportunities for their women see greater results in poverty reduction and development across the board. Yet while some progress has been made in improving the lives of women around the globe (through expanded access to microfinance and treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, for example), the fact remains that women are still bearing the brunt of extreme poverty and disease and in many countries, are systematically excluded from the economy and politics and living in fear of violence and rape.

The UN decision follows other signs that momentum is building for a renewed effort to tackle global women’s issues. Earlier this year, President Barack Obama created the first ever Office on Global Women’s Issues in his Administration (with veteran women’s advocate Melanne Verveer at its head) and in Congress, Senator Barbara Boxer now chairs a subcommittee with global women’s issues in its purview. The need to invest in women was also a recurring key theme of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent trip to Africa, and this past month both the Clinton Global Initiative and the New York Times have highlighted the topic in a major way.

So it seems that everyone- and now the UN- agrees: women are key to a healthier, more prosperous and stable world. The challenge is now to translate this growing consensus into action. At the UN, details on the new agency will be ironed out over the coming months after Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon comes up with a proposal to member states on the body’s mission, funding, structure and oversight. The first indication of how much muscle the new agency will have. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., the FY011 budget should be a good sign of where the Administration’s priorities lie and how they match with Congress. We’ll be watching these developments at ONE closely, so stay tuned here for news from both fronts.

-Nora Coghlan

More than 800,000 men, women and children were killed in the horrific Rwandan genocide of 1994 – including many of my friends and family members.

Perhaps you saw the film Hotel Rwanda, in which actor Don Cheadle portrayed me. Cheadle, Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix, Sophie Okonedo and their fellow cast members highlighted the challenges my family and I faced working to save approximately 1,200 Hutus and Tutsis from genocidal killers who surrounded the hotel I managed in Kigali.

Sadly, the actions that led to the Rwandan genocide have never been fully revealed. The ethnic and political conflicts that preceded the genocide continue to this day and have spilled over Rwanda’s borders. This means that justice has not been done for victims or survivors. It also means that related violence is continuing in nations bordering Rwanda such as the Congo, where 5 million have now died.

You can help change this. Click here to send a free message asking international leaders to support the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation’s call for an internationally administered Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, which includes Rwanda, the Congo, Burundi and Uganda.

This is the only way to truly heal the wounds left by the genocide and bring justice to victims and survivors from all backgrounds.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both Nobel Peace Prize winners, established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on apartheid era crimes in South Africa. This helped to bring more closure to that painful, violent period of their nation’s history. Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in other nations have laid the important groundwork for peace.

Is justice for genocide survivors and victims worth a minute of your time? If so, please click here to send a free, instant message to world leaders in support of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

As someone who witnessed the barbarity of the Rwanda killings firsthand, I urge you from the bottom of my heart to join our efforts to support true democracy and ensure that genocide never happens again. Thank you so much for your support.

Sincerely,

Paul Rusesabagina, Founder of Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation

As Secretary Clinton continues her visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), FORGE is grateful that her trip is calling the world’s attention to the millions of lives lost due to the horrific conflict occurring in the country. And yet, having worked with over 50,000 Congolese refugees for the past six years, FORGE’s true hope for the Secretary’s visit is that it will advance the public’s understanding of modern DRC far beyond the prevailing perceptions of violence and shattered lives. We are optimistic that the trip will spotlight the tremendous opportunities for peace and development in one of Africa’s most populous countries and will focus on the inspiring progress being made by the conflict’s courageous survivors.

FORGE works with displaced communities in Africa, educating and empowering refugees to break the cycle of war and poverty through methods that address the underlying causes of poverty and oppression. By re-conceptualizing humanitarian assistance to include practical skill building and human capacity development, FORGE affirms the role of local citizens as empowered agents of peace and development rather than mere beneficiaries of international agencies. Our collaborative, bottom-up approach is both innovative and imperative, but progress towards our ultimate vision of peace and prosperity takes time.

Now in our sixth year of operation, we are proud to see growing examples of the returns on our investments in individuals. Earlier this week, we received a moving email that confirms our results. The following is from Antoine Ngeleka, the former head of one of FORGE’s Computer Training Centers, who is currently getting his B.S. in Computer Science through FORGE’s university scholarship program. He has some exciting news about developments in Congo, preparations for the 2011 elections, and how FORGE’s programming is helping otherwise-ineligible populations join the reconstruction process.

Hi,

I hope all is well with you and everyone near you. I just wanted to share the compliments I received from my former students who repatriated last year and this year. The voter enrollment that officially started early June in Kinshasa to prepare the 2011 elections is starting in the rest of the country this week. The last time it happened in Congo was before the 2006 elections, and most of the people who got jobs with the electoral commission during enrollment were from urban areas. The same thing is happening this time too since it is a computerized enrollment and there are no computer training centers in most rural areas of the DRC.

And yet, I have received so far seven phone calls from former students to inform me that they managed to pass the test and got a job with the electoral commission of DRC! Two of these people are in Mwange (Moba territory), one in Pweto, three in Kirungu and one in Moba port. I believe that many more of my students were selected but haven’t yet informed me for some reasons. One of them said, “I didn’t know whether the knowledge and skills I acquired from Kala Computing Center had any value until I managed to defend your work at the test. I know now that I have an important intellectual property in me, thanks to FORGE and its staff”.

This is a sign that FORGE was not wasting time and resources in its projects but was actually investing in people. The good seeds that FORGE was sowing are now producing.

May FORGE live longer,

Antoine NGELEKA, Bachelor Of Science in Computing, Cavendish University Zambia

This beautiful testimonial is moving evidence of the benefits of FORGE programs in Zambian refugee camps. In order to capitalize on the momentum towards peace, security and reconstruction in DRC, let us all remember that the time to invest in the DRC is now. Just this week, FORGE secured official approval from the Congolese government to launch a base of operations in Katanga Province (southern DRC). FORGE’s collective efforts will help communities design their own unique solutions to local challenges and will play a valuable and unprecedented role in rebuilding civil society in the DRC. As we continue to embrace the tremendous opportunities in Africa, we look forward to sharing many more stories of individuals triumphing over war and adversity in the coming months and years.

For more information about FORGE, visit http://www.FORGEnow.org or email info[at]FORGEnow[dot]org. Please join us in this movement—there are many simple ways for every one of us to contribute.

-Kjerstin Erickson, Vaughn Hester & Abby Speight, FORGE

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton’s visit to Goma offers promising signs that the epidemic of rape and sexualized violence directed against the women of Eastern Congo will at last become a central issue in the U.S. foreign policy agenda. It represents hope for the hundreds of thousands of women, like Honorata, who have been raped, tortured, and then rejected by their families. We appeal to Secretary Clinton to end this war on Congo’s women.

When Honorata was captured in 2002 (a 48-year old mother of six), her captors referred to her as “a meal.” Everybody who was hungry for sex could take her. After raping her, they would pick up a rag, put it on the end of their rifle, and insert it into her, saying that they were “wiping her clean.” We see so many women like Honorata in our work in Eastern Congo, women who are taken as sex slaves, subjected to barbaric torture and inconceivable violence, and then cast out by their families and communities due to the powerful stigma of rape.

When I met Honorata last fall, she told me about this stigma for rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After over a year of brutal torture, she managed to escape. But her ordeal was not over. Her husband refused to take her back, calling her “a disgrace to the family.” One day rebels attacked the town and she was taken again, along with two pregnant women. They were gang raped. Her front teeth were knocked out during ‘caresses’ they gave her with rifle butts. Her eyesight was impaired due to the severe beatings she endured, and her ring finger became stiff after they sawed off her wedding band.

But there is reason to hope. Secretary Clinton is visiting Goma to hear the stories of women like Honorata, women who are speaking out against rape and calling for justice. And people around the world are calling for action and taking action themselves, sponsoring women like Honorata and supporting them as they rebuild their lives and communities.

I now call Honorata a colleague. She participated in the Women for Women International program as a sponsored sister, receiving economic assistance and training that helped her rebuild her life, send her children to school and even build a house. She also became a staff member of our DRC chapter upon graduation, becoming a Women for Women International trainer in her own right and a community organizer encouraging fellow rape survivors to break the silence and demand justice.

Together we can bring a lasting peace to Congo. You can sponsor a Congolese woman like Honorata through our program. You can run for Congo Women. You can demand that the international community make a stand for Congo’s women. I think we can all hope that Secretary Clinton’s visit to Goma represents a first step in that direction.

-Lyric Thompson, Women for Women International

Check out this letter to the editor that Senator Klobuchar wrote. We are very fortunate for Senator Klobuchar’s ongoing support and are thrilled for this piece.

Excerpts below, full letter here

Of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty around the world, 70 percent are women. According to a 2008 progress report on the Millennium Development Goals , more than 500,000 women in developing countries still die each year from complications of childbirth. These conditions are shameful.

Today, far too many women across the world face oppression and violence simply because of their gender. Too many women are treated as second-class citizens when it comes to their health. And too many young girls are denied the education they need to succeed.

-Libby Crimmings