cultural practices such as female genital mutilation child marriages forced marriage dowry related violence so called honor killings and often women are met with violence simply for wanting to go to school earn an honest living marry where they choose retain custody of their children or obtain a separation or divorce from their spouse women and girls with within already vulnerable populations find themselves at even greater peril in the past ten years i have been a frequent visit to colombia frequent visitor to colombia i have paid special attention to and have come to know a great deal about the humanitarian crisis of the internally displaced inside colombia and the colombian refugee crisis in neighboring countries in two thousand and seven colombia's  office the defense defense or you nearly one in five of displaced women identified sexual violence as a direct cause of displacement nearly sixty percent of displaced women said they had suffered sexual violence and nearly forty percent of the reported victims are girls younger than fourteen years old last november refugees international released a new report colombia displaced women demand their rights based on feel research and personal interviews brought to light shocking information about how colombian women and girls are targeted by armed groups for sexual violence force recruitment they found incident after incident of rapes and attempted rapes of rape of indigenous women in front of their community threats of sexual violence are a major factor leading families with adolescent girls t flee their homes lack of income especially by colombian refugees in neighboring countries make women and girls especially vulnerable to exploitation or trafficking clean prostitution or being forced to engage in illegal activity and in colombia where impunity reigns supreme crimes of sexual violence are really reported to the legal system particularly when the official armed forces or illegal armed groups are the perpetrators because survivors are witnesses have no faith that they will receive protection especially in areas where the legal system and local officials are heavily infiltrated or have been corrupted by armed groups like so much of the world in colombia fishelson legal and medical legal and medical system treat victims of rape and other violence badly leaving them double victimized and without the social psychological support survivors need just to deal with and recover from the stress from of a violent act let alone to get through the court proceedings with great courage and reacted to a landmark decision by the constitutional court on the rights of displaced women salamis women's organizations organize themselves and collect information on six hundred cases of sexual violence against displaced women which has begun to change the landscape of government international a non governmental response to the violence affecting colombia's displaced women and girls of colombia is hardly unique today oxfam america released a report on sexual violence in the eastern region of the democratic republic of congo particularly in  this study carried out by the harvard humanitarian initiative shows that sixty percent of rape victims were gang raped by armed men or that half of these assaults took place and suppose it's safe suppose the forces and militias to shame are allies in your belief communities people who are viewed as the enemy and so we find violence against women especially all forms of sexual violence even greater in regional conflict and even greater  ambassador for war crimes and his efforts and his efforts to focus on crimes against women and girls carried out under the cover of armed conflict and other stigler's group of n g o s who are on the front lines of confronting it addressing violence against women and supporting the victims and survivors of violence and we appreciate all their credible work i look forward to hearing today about direct experiences and investigating a working on these issues most importantly i look forward to hearing discussing your recommendations on how we can address and protection act and reauthorization of the violence against women act in the interest of time i would like to limit my comments to three areas of violence against women to be of particular concern and in need of greater attention many people are unaware that there is a country in the world where approximately five hundred women commit suicide each day a rate that is three times higher than that for males in the same country it is not a country ravaged by war economic crime or crises or disease it is a country it is a country of china which subjects women and girls to the drug kone and measures and horrific consequences of its coercive population control policy to scupper couples are allowed to have only one child and there is a traditional preference for males many girls well over one hundred million girls are missing in china as one nine hundred seventy nine and one shopper couple policy was first an act they have been destroyed through sex selection department country ports and human rights practices for china chronicles how women and family members are being detained and beaten and their homes and property are being confiscated if it is learned that a woman is carrying a child that has not been pre approved by the state but the worst violence that women suffer under these course of policies is the experience of having their unborn baby forcibly poisoned through a needle pierced into their abdomen or being subjected to other physical abuse to destroy their child this commission held a hearing just a put in a room with several other women and quote the room was full of mom she said just gone through a forced abortion so moms were crying some moms were mourning some moms were screaming and one mom was rolling on the floor with bearable  i would encourage everyone who cares about violence against women to read the full screen transcript of that tom lantos commission hearing it is deeply troubling and then indictment one of the worst forms of government sanctioned violence against women in world history the economist published a front page story just last month on the gender side occurring in china and its devastating impact on both women and chinese society in general the article ends with a call for an end to the one child limit  should also be aggressively and persistently denouncing these atrocities to the chinese regime and making every effort to stop this outrageous form of violence against women and girls one of the consequences of course of population control policy and the extraordinary number of missing girls has been the rise and trafficking of women from neighboring countries into china for forced marriages and sexual slavery for this as well as other major problems with human trafficking china has been ranked as a tear to watch list country and the state department's annual trafficking in persons report for the past five years i many others have questioned why china has not been classified as a tier three country and therefore subject to sanctions that may motivate it to take effective action to end this major crime which affects women in particular it's your rankings in an egg negative ramifications that a country could face a failure to meet minimum standards to combat trafficking part of the trafficking victims protection act our government needs to take this form of violence against women more seriously and use the legislative tools at his disposal to pressure china as well as other the other sixty eight here to watch those countries in tier three countries and i would note parent that  violence against women and girls i would like to address is a form that has devastating impacts on our own country and which our own government is promoting and supporting financially through the lifting of the mexico city policy around the world it is the violence of abortion it's time to recognize that abortion is violence abortion methods dismember poison and starve to death a baby a baby who if she isn't aborted is just as alive a day or a week or a month before birth as after birth is only a life of a change of address a baby is a girl that abortion is the killing of a woman before she is born safe abortion is the ultimate  would challenge anyone to deny that child dismemberment forced premature expulsion from the safety of the womb chemical poisoning or deliberate starvation as we know one of the chemicals in our you forty six actually denies nourishment to an unborn child is anything other than an act of violence it is bewildering to me how anyone can fail to understand that abortion is by definition if it mortality destroys children abortion also has a devastating though still knowledged impact on the mother at least  hundred two studies show significant psychological harm major depression and elevated suicide risk in women to abort at least twenty eight studies including three in two thousand and nine showed that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer by some thirty to forty percent or more yet the abortion industry has largely succeeded in suppressing these facts so called safe or should inflict other deleterious consequences on women as well as the hemorrhage perforation of the uterus and sterility and even death just a few months ago a woman from my home state of new jersey died from a legal abortion leaving behind four children finally women should be informed of the significant association between abortion and subsequent premature birth as shown in at least a hundred and thirteen studies for example a study by researchers shocked and zoe showed a thirty six percent increase risk for pre term birth after one abortion and a staggering ninety three percent increase risk after two similarly the risk of subsequent children being born with low birth weight increases by thirty five percent after one abortion and seventy two percent after two or more another study shows the risk increases nine times after a woman has three abortion cognitive impairments and behavioral problems low birthweight is similarly associated with neonatal mortality as well as morbidity and a strategy to respond to violence against women that is serious about addressing the issue honestly confront against women and girls this issue has been particular concern of mine for some time before coming to congress i was the elected d a the state's attorney if you will in the metropolitan boston area and in that capacity an issue aided the first domestic violence program of violence against women and sexual assault unit in the united states and it was motivated by the stark reality that violence against women has been implicitly sanctioned and not punished in this society remember the so called rule of thumb according to that rule  a husband was permitted to beat his wife as long as the stick did not exceed the sec conference of his thumb and clearly we have had a history of bias against women in this country one only has to look at our property laws it was only early in the last century the women received the right to vote and violence against women has been a hidden tragedy here in this country until the late one nine hundred seventy s early one nine hundred eighty s and it's my belief that that reality encouraged violent behavior and was a major factor in the high incidence of all crimes of violence not just by lance directed against woman but beilenson directed in any way shape or form in our society violence is a learned behavior young males just don't simply parachute into our society and begin to be women it's something that they learn now the results of our efforts back in massachusetts were remarkable prior to creating this program some five or six woman would be murdered every year in my jurisdiction by either their spouse or  a male partner after implementation of this program not a single domestic violence homicide occurred over a twelve year span i would suggest to you for a moment reflect on how many lives were saved because of this initiative and this initiative has been replicated all over the country in every jurisdiction i think in the united states and what we've seen is the incidence of all crimes of violence has declined in this united states now we have seen statistics nationally that when we make a serious concerted effort to eradicate violence against woman crimes of violence decline recently the usa today indicated that the rate of reported rapes in the united states has hit a twenty two year low and violent crime as a whole despite the scourge of illegal narcotics in this country is decreasing that's remarkable and i believe that this is partially due to the more aggressive response that we have a society have taken towards violence against women there is a incredible benefit to the entire society not just to those traditional victims of male violence and there's no reason that these positive results cannot be replicated internationally the time is now to act globally nearly a billion women around the world will be beaten raped otherwise abused in their lifetime rape is routinely used as a tactic of water in some countries up to seventy percent of women and girls are affected by violence seventy percent in some countries recently in guinea the new york times you refer to a woman as being prey that's p r e y and reported that i'm soldiers beat raped and killed women in broad daylight without any impunity jim mcgovern as you indicated in colombia displaced woman partially are particularly vulnerable to abuse according to a study conducted in four cities thirty nine percent of displaced of sexual violence are younger than fourteen years and i just recently read an article about a thirteen year old girl in yemen who was married off to an older man and ultimately died from injuries she sustained when he raped her last year a twelve year old child bride in the same country died while attempting to give birth although i have pointed to a few specific examples this is an issue that knows no boundaries it's not an issue of the developing versus the developed world are a question of one culture over anothe bottom line is every person to deserves every human person deserves to lead a life free of violence these atrocities effect more than woman suffering abuse secretary clinton said that acts of violence of women against women don't just time a single individual or a single event family or a village or the are a group that shed the fabric that weaves us together as human beings it in dangerous families and communities or roads social and political stability and undermines economic progress those of secretary clinton's words and i can agree more united states government must do something to end to this to end this violence not only because it's the right thing to do but because our own national security interest is implicated speaking recently at the united nations secretary clinton noted that both she and president obama believe that the subjugation of woman is a threat to the national security interest of the united states and it is also a threat to the common security of our world because the suffering and denial of the rights of women and the instability of nations goes hand in hand the fact is we need to invest our resources now to bettering the lives of woman so that they in turn and better their own societies their own nation there is no doubt that our future is tied to the fate of these women the joint chiefs of staff that emphasize that one of the most effective forces to defeating extremism it's e mail education i have no doubt that we can to address this issue successfully and in time see dramatic and even unexpected results but we need to make this a priority we need to systematically integrate gender concerns into our foreign policy and make the safety and betterment of women a central concern because of this congressman p and i have introduced the international violence against women act we don't see this is a partisan issue a male or female issue simply put this is a human rights issue that has long lasting important consequences for this country i sincerely hope that our colleagues will join us and we will see this particular legislation and acted into law as i said at a domestic level it had an impact on violence that changed attitudes in the united states about the acceptability of violence and i dare say making violence against women a priority and a component of our foreign policy that over time you know won't happen overnight but that we will begin to impact and influence the attitudes of the world not just against violence against women but about violence in all forms and we will see the kind of results the kind of results that we've seen in this country elsewhere and not just the money individuals but among the family of nations and with that we'll back to the chair that you very much for say for i can't before i conclude i think this is interesting this is today so she had a press april fifteenth rape skyrockets in congo to study fine the number of rapes carried out by civilians and he's congo has increased seventeen fold in the past few years according to a study released today that finds sexual assaults long perpetrated by groups are spreading across the population because it became accepted it was the norm and it just we know that it's a it's it's it's a tool that is used in war but now because it has been accepted and it has become a norm we have a seventeen fold increase in the number of rapes committed here today before i came to congress spent most of my life advocating for victims rights first as a prosecutor back in the dark ages congressman delahunt doesn't remember this but that's when we met  in massachusetts we could communicate in very well and we still have a language barrier to some extent but i pick up pieces but in the last twenty two years before coming to congress i saw about twenty five thousand felony cases as a criminal court judge in houston texas i've seen every type of case possible and some of those it was hard to believe actually would occur and many of those had to do with people in a family unit assaulting each other committing very serious crimes crimes against each other and sometimes even home aside there are many of those cases i would just mention two of those recent immigrant family had had moved to texas and not long after coming into the united states the husband was charged with domestic violence case against his spouse for attempted murder and  he did know that he was almost murdered her but he beat her severely and in the courtroom before sentencing as all judges do we asked him those questions that was defendant's would never answer is there anything you have to say before senates pronounced and he said well he didn't understand why he was being brought to court because in his culture it's ok to beat up your wife if she doesn't obey you and he actually believed that and he had brought that philosophy from where he had been to the united states a philosophy that is unfortunately in many of our countries worldwide this individual like many throughout the world needed to understand that it's socially unacceptable and criminally irresponsible to treat women as property i've had cases of young girls wanting to be married in an arranged marriage situation and refused to accept that marriage situation the arranged marriage and have been murdered for failure to obey the father in having that  marriage arranged additives like these have fostered dangerous levels of domestic and ginger by base violence around the world and the problem is the violence is varied in extreme some countries seventy percent of the women will  some form of abuse in their lifetimes seventy percent to me is a staggering number and this can include anything from beatings gang rape honor killings are mutilation extreme violence is a not a problem that can be easily solved by mandates or domestic the met diplomatic overtures any solution that seeks to seriously address this issue requires a comprehensive approach to target many facets and faces of global was violence against women at a time of soaring national deficits and multiple commitments some may be asking why are we insisting upon making the united states the leader in opposing violence against women abroad in spite of the physical concerns the united states should be the leader in human rights throughout the world whether it's on this issue or other issues human rights is what we do in this country this right this issue carries great weight but it's unacceptable to have any type of violence against women persist throughout the world and the united states cannot just turn a blind eye to what takes place in other countries because it does affect us in many ways i agree with my colleague mr della it affects us because of domestic violence are domestic national security issues as well a country whose women are oppressed and intimidated by violence is usually not a fully functioning democracy afghanistan under the taliban in the current climate in iran are two examples of this  having traveled to afghanistan as many members of congress have and i've heard these horror stories about how women were treated under the taliban is unacceptable and this international crime against women must stop in the united states should be the leader when given the opportunity to participate in a free society women have a stabilizing impact they devote for more resources resources to peace building invest in foreign assistance more effectively and their less s acceptable to extremists political thought women are essential partners for promoting conflict resolution and sustaining development and their safety internationally is critical to our safety here at home my grandmother who was the most influential person in my life and as mr delahunt was proud of my grandmother she was also proud of the fact she was a yellow dog democrat never forgave me for being a republican but she did teach me some things that i  but she did teach me quite a few things and i learned that and believed and one thing she said that was true many years ago it is true today is that you never hurt somebody you claim you love and that's true and in domestic situations when spouses especially males claim they care about somebody and love their spouse they are not supposed to hurt and that is i think an international philosophy that all grandmothers each and one that i agree with so as a leader in the free world we cannot turn a blind eye to the abuse that is perpetrated against women who could be easily our mothers or our daughters it transcends political boundaries and i'm proud to be working with my friend mr delahunt on this issue i know there are some concerns that have been brought to my attention by congressman smith i hope under section two zero two of the bill we've addressed those concerns if not we will be glad to discuss those at a later time with congressm civilizing society you know one of the things that i think is where the united states should play a leadership role is committing itself to universal education across the globe one way to encourage more people to send girls to school particular is to expand our school feeding programs all across all across the world as oftentimes girls are denied education deliberately as their parents don't think it's important they go to school but if you introduce a meal in a school setting the sudden more they send their kids to school if the kids will be fed but i mean you know i you know we talk about afghanistan i was right i read a statistic nicholas kristoff wrote in one of his pieces that the cost of want to american soldier in afghanistan you could build thirty women whether they be poll indicates spouse someone that they love or any woman is cowardly it's unacceptable and it has no place in any society if we can just carry that message and encourage other societies that this is a priority not just for the united states but for universal human rights women's rights should be  population control community in the abortion rights community and the impact on the girl child is irrefutable it is a crime against women that has no parallel in terms of the number of people young girls girl child who have been slaughtered that model is now being looked at very seriously by some africa under the pretext that as carbon breathers children babies a to climate change even though a place like africa has about twelve percent of the world's population only six percent of greenhouse gases emanates from africa so they hardly are contributing it's the united states and other countries that certainly bear the brunt of that burden and pollution but african children are now going to be put at very serious risk that the editor in chief of the canadian post wrote a piece which he talks about the world replicating the one child per couple policy where brothers and sisters are illegal and where you get a disproportionate number of boys now if that's not a crime against women that's not a crime against the girl child and if that doesn't impose grave injury on women when the state says when and if you can have a child monitors the menstrual cycle of each woman at the factory level and then if she is found without a birth authorised permit is then forcibly aborted i don't know what is that the nuremberg work crimes tribunal forced abortion was properly construed to be a crime against women because polish women in particular where it was used is being used today very efficaciously by the chinese government it is being picked so i would hope that this commission and every effort we making in combating violence you said mr delahunt violence in all of its forms this is one of those forms that often gets a pass and people look at it and say oh well it keeps the population down and that editor in chief of that canadian post like many others she said we need to get to a three point seven five billion dollar world by two thousand and seventy five i mean cut it in half right now it'll lead inexora the bachelor say you so much for being here we welcome your presence and we look forward to your remarks if not excuse me i guess we didn't have it loudly enough let me just say again that in several international armed conflicts violence against women and girls has become a major tactic if not the dominant tactic of war part of a larger strategy to target groups and communities and many of these conflict zones it is indeed more dangerous to be a civilian woman or girl than it is to be a soldier or other combatant this tactic is constant it is consciously chosen by commanders because it's effective and rewarding fighters while at the same time a limb and aiding the will and the capacity of populations to resist victim on its consequences to individuals are devastating the permanent physical injuries the mutilations the disfiguring scars the diseases acquired including h i b aids the effects on the ability to bear children or even to control bodily functions there's also the longer term psychological impact female victims face not own we must save lives and continually cope with having been victims but they also must confront the additional psychological burden of being stigmatized stigmatized or sadly ostracized sometimes by their own families or communities in almost all cases they must also live with the reality that the perpetrators of the violence are walking free fully able to commit these crimes again because there is so little real possibility of investigation and prosecution my own work on this on these issues builds upon almost nine years of experience as an international prosecutor pursuing justice is in cases of mass atrocity sadly i witnessed all too often how pervasive sex crimes and crimes of sexual violence have becom conflict particularly non international armed conflict despite the long history of using sexual violence as a tool of war and ethnic cleansing there is widespread impunity for such crimes and indeed for a long time there were really no words or legal norms by which to define and punish sexually violent war crimes it's only in the past decade and a half that rape and sexual slavery an armed conflict of men recognized this the stink crimes and prosecuted on that basis when i was chief prosecutor for the special court for sierra leone our office made it a priority to give voice and justice to female victims by prosecuting those who are responsible for its subjecting indeed in case of sierra leone hundreds of thousands of women the sexual violence the results were restored convictions of national leaders of armed groups for rape is a war crime and is a crime against humanity for sexual slavery as a war crime and also as a crime against humanity and for forced marriage as a crime against humanity the last defense never before recognized in any court of the world beyond the moral imperative to katie abuse and sanction the perpetrator promoting accountability for sexual violence also helps establish peace and security when sexually violent perpetrators are not held to account for their actions it signals not only that their behavior is the norm society is willing to accept but also that women are not valued as highly as men as secretary clinton said you cannot have a vibrant civil society of half the population is left behind women's participation is a prerequisite for good governance for rule of law for economic prosperity gender based violence and the threat of that violence prevents women's participation full participation in all sectors of society while we know that trials alone cannot and widespread violence they can play an important part in not only reestablishing the rule of law in an environment of insecurity and impunity but also in preventing and deterring would be perpetrators from committing further atrocities as many have mentioned already today and as congressman delahunt to mention the report of the seventeen fold increase of violence sexual violence in the d r see one of the places that we do face the greatest epidemic of sexual and gender based violence and its use as a tactic of war is in the democratic republic of congo in the civil conflict that continue to exist in the eastern v r c without question thousands of women and girls are being raped hundreds well in excess of a thousand perhaps more are being murdered and their family members are being abducted following secretary clinton's visit to goma last august i traveled to can shot twice and then also to the eastern region of the democratic republic of congo in co anja in north of goma about seventy miles north of goma i met with victims of the november two thousand and eight massacre there including a woman whose husband and children were killed before her eyes unfortunately can wander is by no means an isolated event survivors of such massacre still suffer from the effects today that lost their families their homes their property their ability to work securing justice for those who survive such soul shattering violence is essential not only for its own sake but also to secure a sustainable peace it's crucial that the people who commit such atrocities are held to account and not put into positions of power particularly vital step to ending the cycle of impunity is to hold senior level military commanders to account and to bring perpetrators to justice without regard to their rank or their political connections thus far although there have been some progress and bringing justice still in lower level cases of lower level officers senior commanders continue to act with impunity while the international criminal court  selected and can select a few of those accused of being responsible for the most gross atrocities and bring that to trial bring those individuals to trial the vast majority must be tried in domestic courts in the democratic republic of congo after however after decades of civil war the domestic courts of the d r see are severely under resourced acting basic equipment training infrastructure and adequate personnel in order to ensure that no one is immune from investigation and prosecution a matter how senior the congolese judiciary must be strengthened so that it can ensure both reliable protection of human rights and accountability is for those who perpetrate violations of those rights including by commission of sexual and gender based violence the united states government is committed to continuing to provide assistance to ensure that domestic courts are effective in this regard but this or require a sustained commitment and will at best be work of a generation building on our solid positive partnership with the government of the democratic republic of congo the united states supports its efforts to emerge from conflict and realize a just and lasting peace based on democratic principles a number of u s government programs both through the state department and the u s agency for international development work to develop the capacity of the judiciary democracy and governance programs support nascent institutions such as the national and provincial parliaments and judicial institutions they have vance electoral reforms promote an independent ineffective judicial system increase access to the digital system through mobile courts and legal clinics peace and security programs include strong human rights and anti gender based violence training conflict prevention and reconciliation efforts and community based programs to improve livelihoods for vulnerable populations additional programs remote reforms to strengthen military payment and justice systems and professionalize officers which increase increases discipline within the military we've also insisted on greater human rights and civilian protection conditionality on un peacekeeping  on the monuc forces and their assistance to operations conducted by the d r seamen military those operations ongoing at the moment against the f t l are in the east under the name of mani leo a sustained commitment to all kinds of justice sector reform efforts ranging from building an independent judiciary to encouraging the establishment of domestic jurisdiction over international crimes to assisting the d r c in training investigators prosecutors and judges to ensuring that the r c prisons are secure and adequately staffed all the steps are necessary to end the cycle of impunity finally accountability must be for spurs not just through judicial mechanisms but also through revising the processes by which soldiers are graded into the d r c military and as you know there been some fifty three rebel groups integrated within the army of the of the democratic republic of congo reintegration methods must include thorough investigations and vetting of soldiers prior to integration as well as suspensions punishment and when appropriate prosecutions when soldiers abuse their power this is a challenge but a challenge that must be met one soldier at a time these are not simple issues in the d r c and the international community need to rise to the challenge and other governments in other places need to rise to the challenge those who treat women as targets and battle must be held accountable the international community must also work not just to prevent these crimes but also to develop constructive ways to reintegrate and de stigmatise victims of sexual violence within their home communities silence is acceptance and secretary clinton the stated the united states will not tolerate the continuation of wanton senseless brutal violence perpetrated against civilians presented testimony and it was perhaps the most riveting testimony breaky sorrowful the cruelty that they suffered was beyond reproach they were repeated by soldiers and yet they came and told congress or story which followed one of the challenges of course of an international court is one deals with high level individuals and proving the responsibility of high level individuals for the rape committed on the ground has always been a  i know what the rwanda tribunal we had challenges holding high level individuals but i think as we were able to develop finally the clear evidence that this was part of a strategy of destroying communities destroying an ethnic group  humiliating and degrading and and eliminating opposition it's possible to hold people to account and that's been done and this is in these tribunals still ongoing and some of the major trials which have now concluded are waiting for what i hope will be further historic judgements holding top level people to account it is important to note however that when it comes to the often the individual perpetrators these courts  were not designed to go down to that level and the obligation for prosecuting those cases have fallen to the national system and there have been follow on cases now in bosnia in particular in the state court there and there are hundreds of cases that you need to be need to be prosecuted and cases as well that need to be prosecuted by the by the by the local prosecutors in belgrade and zagreb and we're working to ensure that that continues this is the this area which i think was was positive obviously however as you say it's only as good as your ability to have investigators on the ground to follow up these cases and i agree with you that that remains important work and must be done or themselves responsible and clearing a general three three colonels in a major these cases were presented to the authorities last and they when the security council visit they were brought up again with secretary  clinton was there august we're yet to make solid progress on having these cases moved three of the individuals are now under judicial supervision two in jail but actually moving forward with with cases is not yet though we're hopeful because of some international assistance that will finally get progress on those cases but that's not all all there others people in the in the area that are following that if identified at least fifteen other commanders that have played a key role in gender violence including those with that are fighting on the on the government side and so it's important to follow up those cases and let's not forget boss going to go into you know  who's wanted by the i c c is is you know we've as we announced a few weeks ago even though we're not going to go running the i c c we believe in supporting its efforts in bringing accountability in places where it has jurisdiction where it's gained it by reason of the as responsible for ongoing violence and human rights watch reports and other reports fire by human rights groups and so his case may expand beyond what it was originally charged to be that he be brought to justice and he's wanted on an international arrest warrant but he's been reintegrated within the within the army and and so those are things that need to be done and and they're being raised by us with with the d l c i understand there are substantial capacity problems there there are challenges for that country and terms of its ability to to police and enforce where we've built a partnership and we're pressing ahead and it's not for us that we're doing  it that we're doing it for those those victims and we're doing it for that is that seventeen fold increase in victims which only stands to get worse unless there is really decisive action against against these crimes communities and sexual violence be used against displaced women by various armed actors including colombian security forces which is something that is every time i'm down there i get more and more reports of of that have and we're hoping that they'll be a successful prosecution to follow that but our position in colombia as it has and so many other states is to do all we can to push them  and to work with them to deal with these problems at the national level and that's basically a high priority of my office to make sure that that's done my concern is i mean we get we argue about with a deep mobilization process is working or not but that deals mostly with there's a lot happening there that is not particularly positive not withstanding the you know the peace or justice law that but i would just hope that our administration would continue to keep pressure on making sure that some of these crimes by official security forces are in fact follow through and prosecuted well i agree with you completely and as as we've indicated in the b r c where we have crimes committed by by people that are part of the uniform military they need to be held and thank you very much for us ok in terms of war crimes and it's about accountability for our globe and not just individual accountability but there are a lot of little actors and so i wonder what the what role there is to be played in terms of you know training local judiciary training up local law enforcement to actually identify as you know the first hand offenses against women and to take those seriously and what role if any we would have and instituting those kind of training modules and then the other question i have is you know has to do with how we are you know how we engage in our military to terry operations engage in training other militaries because frankly you know a lot of the you know the bad acting actually takes place you know over a period of a decade or whatever from some generation of people that the united states frankly has trained in their military capacity and so what is it that we can do that  seal now that that one of the that there are all of their prosecutions of war crimes cases all whether it's by the military uniform military of the government or of rebels is done in military courts their civilian courts don't have jurisdiction of those crimes we think the civilian courts should that was one of the issues i raised here because it would expand their capacity but we're providing direct assistance through our deals our defense legal program to those courts i mean there's french speaking officers working directly with with the courts working in contrast and the mobile courts on the road in prosecuting cases of gender violence committed by both rebel forces and by and by soldiers and those programs i think really need to be expanded but our commitment to the sort of rule of law on the ground and toward toward what has been a standard in our military which is that we will prosecute people who commit these crimes we will hold folks to account that sort of spreading that ethic i think is very important part of our policy it obviously needs to be extended and strengthened but  it's also to be noted that to some extent going after the individual perpetrator or the low level individual who may not have any friends or connections is relatively easy and the harder challenge  you move up the scale and obviously we're not talking about moving up the scale to some cases going to be tried at the hague but talking about majors or colonels or others that making those cases and establishing  responsibility of those individuals i think is the real challenge and that's where i think even more international assistance is necessary in prosecution support sal's  investigation even in national participation as part of the judicial process in order to ensure independence so that to there doesn't have to be dominant international but some international presence can help ensure that cases aren't swept under the rug when they involve high level individuals so there's a great deal that needs to be done and in the b r c analysis where this is really the focus of our attention is providing that assistance that capacity and that independence to make possible the decisive action against these crimes that really does send the signal that if you do the crime you'll do the time and will begin to cut  back on this on this increasing amount of victimisation follow that up because one of the projects that i worked on before i came into congress was it was a project related to training  judges but others and local judiciary to understand these issues of gender violence how they could be prosecuted and then i try to share information with other judges because i think what happens in an awful lot of places is it that the the way toward a successful prosecution is not often shared and so you have judges who sometimes can operate in isolation isolation of  international law and even isolation of their own domestic internal law to handle these cases and so i get a little troubled when i hear that you know for example in afghanistan i was there last year group of women judges said that their chapter of international association of women judges was essentially sort of you know not allowed to operate in function and it was a way actually for those judges to share information training and strategies around prosecuting gender based violence and this is not an unusual case that happened in afghanistan but it certainly agree with you i mean this is vital to have this sort of mixed national to international level i mean i've seen it my own experience the way those of us that went and i was in africa for nine years benefited from the experience and the traditions of the people that we were working with that came from those countries at the same time we were able to share information about international law and our own experience with with that with our own systems and holding high level individuals to account so that to the greater the greatest extent possible you want these kind of exchanges you want this kind of training and as i've indicated some of the models that are the most excitingly and the bosnia court for instance that i was discussing with congressman smith is as manifested by for a large number largely women judges there to the from the united states that serve in that court at the moment with bosnian counterparts and there and they're sitting there with them dealing with these rape cases and other cases  there they are a whole lot more understanding of how this happened because they've got the bosnian judges sitting with them but they also provide support and and give confidence to the victims that are coming forward so i think that kind of mixing would also like to call a new members of the house of representatives to put your full weight behind the international violence against women act as i would describe this poor response to a reality of so many women and girls if aids and men and a major reason for this discrepancy is violence in my country uganda the disparity between the number of men and women with hiv aids is greatest for young adults aged twenty to twenty four in this age group are two infected women every one infected man and this is true in many other parts of africa it's easy to feel as though there are no explanations for why women are so much more youth impacted by hiv aids and men but many women and girls education because of sexual harassment and violence this comes from teachers and fellow male students when we stand by and ignore the violence that the role that violence against girls play in their ability to succeed at school we risk eliminating one of our best chances to an aids free generation there are deep rooted cultural issues that make african women and girls more likely to experience violence and therefore more likely to acquire hiv and more likely to go without the united states to support this life saving changes in tandem and with the work the country level is that this violence against women and girls would have described must be addressed immediately women and girls cultivate another this act be part of this comprehensive approach this act also provides a space for local civil society groups in africa and elsewhere to receive funding to implemented by this prevention and response programming this is truly commendable in my view the only way to hold you first the damage done by violence against women and girls is by learning from those bullies that every single day i've seen the product violence you for again writing me to testify before you and i look forward to your question charcoal or was gradually fading but her eyes questing the cruelty she suffered i hold her hand knowing that these are her final moments and she is just drifting away in pain very intense pain her not even for my children i can't bear this pain anymore i remain haunted by these painful memories and i've seen countless such victims some survived some died the words give me justice hardly ever the resolutions were passed unanimously by the punjab parliament even though it encountered opposition from the conservative literalist patriarchal and feudal members the resolution on money and its recommendations were included in the criminal law amendment act two thousand five while the legislation proposed for acid attacks remains referred to the federal law department and has been awaiting action for more than five years now the most difficult legislation was a law to prohibit private usury or money lending private usury is controlled by criminal mafia who through money lending business control the lives of the impoverished people when they were unable to pay back high interest rates of over than hundred forty percent on the debts their daughters were forced into prostitution sold into marriages their pensions where you served and farmers harvest went into debt such a reform was not welcomed by the strong and was strongly because it is allowed to happen because it is condoned and because it is permitted gender based wine while it's mostly a crime not based on religion or culture but these socio cultural norms and customs are use world has proven that it is him and have the opportunity to become primary implementers their sistine governance facilitate communications create peace building bridges and transform security structures and the best results came from empowering the community level women organizations in pakistan and of honest on civil society working women closely civil society women working closely with women communities are successfully this awaiting their children and husbands from joining extremist forces pakistan's women parliamentarians have made extraordinary progress and we have been able to be some extremely controversial laws like the hudood ordinance not something that will evolve on its own this needs a strategy that produces a comprehensive and holistic plan of action that engages media public forums and local communities to create awareness and in open debate preventative measures to respond to violence against women and creates preemptive mechanisms in conflict and post conflict regions i was allocates resources to local community organizations that essential role to increase societal wellbeing and in the long term and degrees the conditions that breed extremism and violence i would also like to take this opportunity to submit for the record a letter reached you after fighting godless hurdles and barriers and rest today in your hands demanding protection and security for millions of women a crowd across the globe it takes decades of effort to reach here and has the sweat and blood of many many women like me who are fighting this on the individual level you have the power to i volga transform our efforts into a consolidated policy  nine years in service operating in conflict zones have been a large part of my career and most importantly during the years i served with united nations department of peacekeeping operations i have witnessed  effective over large areas and does not particularly and danger the attackers its effectiveness relies on the perception deeply embedded in  applied when a woman becomes pregnant and the attack is then passed on the next generation in the eastern part of the democratic republic of congo i have seen the perpetrators of these crimes foreign and national armed groups and members of the government army and police who are believed to constitute the single largest group of perpetrators i've also seen the victims women and girls sometimes as young as nine a doctor told me that some of them in signs of being approached blown apart by rifle blast the level of brutality is shocking even by the twisted standards of a place all did by warlords and drug greys child soldiers on any given night in the east of the r c armed groups of men will overrun a village and divide in bands of three to five forcing themselves into houses where they seize and serially rape women and young girls the majority of the women reported that they were tortured during the rape itself i will girls pretended to be dead and survived we covered them with our shirts it was the last we could do for them at least we could of sexual violence has been identified as a tactic of modern who has been treating sexual violence survivors for a decade told me about an emergent pattern of destructive and sadistic behavior by the perpetrators which they classify as a new pathology called rape w extreme violence violence against women and particularly sexual violence has special characteristics that have kept it off the radar of national regional and international security institution a gentleman sexual violence is not a gender or women's issue it is a security issue and having to give you six reasons for first organized rape undermines public order sexual violence is a remarkably efficient means of severe in family and community bonds tearing apart families and whole communities sexual terror targeting women and children has forced countless families to feed our homes they are never to return is a bit of rain was told by a former commander called how can you expect us to tell subordinate commanders that troops can't rape when it is the only thing they have to offer them and called for it sexual reaping its greatest resource force if perpetrators are not prosecuted and they rarely are because of in a good response to sexual violence or national and international transitional justice systems it is very difficult to rebuild these systems and respect for the rule of law impunity for perpetrators and those responsible for these criminal acts higher up in the chain of command means that known human rights nations has recognized as a threat to international security and last sexual violence is an inexpensive and highly destructive weapon a defectively destabilizes societies and creates conditions ripe for terrorism there is a gentleman strong military and security sector responses are needed from the apex global security institution the united nations security council as well as from regional and national security institutions in a meeting with the leaders of the top troop contributing countries president obama acknowledged that and i quote united nations peacekeeping can deliver important results by protecting civilians help be derivable security and advancing peace around the world to succeed united nations missions and contributors need to be better equipped and supported  ambitious mandates be it securing territory or protecting civilians from violence including sexual and gender based violence and called it might be true but it is extremely difficult to find effective military and security responses to sexual violence however there is no doubt that there are actions that can make a difference the united states can take a lead position during courage to security council and other security institutions to take urgent steps to reverse a global culture of impunity for sexual violence peacekeepers police and military would help in prevention and in apprehension of perpetrat against women act is an opportunity to offer a comprehensive approach with this critical issue and to formulate new policy it places a priority on addressing the security sexual violence as a weapon of war creates instability and foster those terror it must be addressed as a serious element of foreign policy conflict intervention thank you jim mcgovern and members of the commission thank you for holding this hearing on this important issue i would also like to submit a written statement on behalf of our quote coalition partner care we've heard the statistics on the extent of violence against women you've heard many stats already presented by other panel members here i come representing the international center for research on women and also come with my experience as an activist and a researcher and trying to engage men and boys as you likely know within a half hour their specific language about the need to engage men and boys in any violence against women and i'd like to offer you four points in thinking about why that's important and why we need to scale that up immediately and how to do that the first the first point i'd like to make is that we must go far beyond the legal response that we've spent a lot of time talking about today what we know that it's key to do that we also know that this is the behavior of not a handful of men but an awful lot of men we know that worldwide about thirty percent of women will experience physical violence during the course of their lives and in some settings that goes up to seventy percent even countries that are not at war not in conflict have trouble processing and prosecuting the number of men involved in this given example from south africa a recent study household sample that was carried out there twenty eight percent of south african men had carried out rape at least once in their life we know that about one in nine victims of rape in south africa actually probably charges of some kind and of those we know that about one in ten is actually successfully prosecuted that is a man is convicted of rape we can we can find examples from other countries of numbers similar to that the issue is that in terms of impunity we're barely making a dent of course we've got to enhance the ability of legal sectors and judicial sectors to hold minute accountable for it but if we truly believe in prevention we've got to figure out ways to go far beyond that low level of prosecution and that's where issues of understanding where this violence comes from come into play and that takes me to my second point there's no mystery where this violence comes from we know a lot from research about where it comes from and what causes it first and foremost of the issue is the issue of women's subordinate economic and social status worldwide we also know from sample survey research with men what is going on in which men it is that are that are using these particular forms of violence i fear w s been coordinating a global survey called the international men and gender equality survey or images carried out household data now and studies now in more than six countries and looking at the factors associated with men's use of violence against women for factors stand out one men's and boy's experience with violence growing up men and boys are learning this because they see it at home they experience it on the playground in other places second they believe in these norms that men have more rights and more power than women men who buy into those ideas that island says ok that women sometimes deserve to be beaten third we've got out the whole use and force we've got economic stress that potent combination of four things is unfortunately too common in too many men's lives and we see how much it drives men's use of violence against women the important thing in this research as well as that we're finding lots of men who don't use violence we've talked a lot about men  uganda pakistan and other parts of the world there's lots of men using violence but there's men out there who don't believe in it and our work is always starting with those men in these settings who say wait a minute i don't believe in this violence this is not what man who is about to be a pakistani man does not mean that i have to use violence there are other ways out there and that takes me to my third point we've got evidence of what works at the program level we're not making this up from scratch there interventions that we've been able to see in rigorous impact they in fact can make a difference we see changes in men's attitudes changes in their behaviors and when we ask women as well we often hear from women that they've they're reporting that men are changing their behaviors as a result these are interventions like one that ice or w in the family violence prevention fund implement in india using cricket intervention called coaching boys into men using the national pastime in india coaching to identify teachable moments to reach boys with messages messages about ending violence against women that it's not acceptable we know with school based efforts that we collaborate with with care in the balkans for example that we're able to see differences in the way that men and boys view women their use of violence against women as we implement these interventions we've got not just data from those programs but programs from around the world and that helps takes me to my fourth point which is there are not enough these have been tiny programs reaching seven hundred fifty sometimes twelve hundred sometimes two thousand men if we know that on an annual basis in india some fifteen percent of women will experience physical violence from a male partner seven hundred fifty men or boys is not enough to make a difference in this and that's where i have outcomes and it's key we know that if these interventions are working we've got evidence  that they do how can we build on these approaches how can we make sure that they're reaching men and boys in all kinds of places the military the police sports the workplace everywhere we hang out and that's what the message that i would  live to leave the commission with we know what works we've got to be much more aggressive about getting it out there particularly if we believe that prevention is possible not only prosecuting after it's happened but looking at how how can we work from the very earliest ages with boys  want to talk to you a little bit about what i've been struggling with it still it seems as if we often separate and even marginalized by alliance when it comes to women as a separate thing talk to a bit about that and i took notes on how you see rape as a security issue but how we understand violence against women as a threat to our own our own national security and international security which broadens i think the kind of approaches that we take and our understanding of how central this issue is to you know we would put a lot of let me give an example put a lot of money into drug interdiction we see the international drug trade as a is a problem and billions of dollars are spent compare that to what we do with the trafficking of women it's you know much smaller it's a woman's issue it's it's separated women and so now if he wanted to elaborate any more this idea of violence against women being a still destabilizing factor in the world and one that has to be treated as a serious and central security issue now enough anyone else wants to comment on  as i said to my statement one can see the rape and gang rape sexual violence as a weapon of war that means that we have that even on paper just recently a film out which is called weapon of war which addresses only the perpetrators why are those guys doing it and who are doing it and it is very clear that those people testified in that very interesting and the aim of the perpetrators is to destroy the community to completely destroy the fabrics of the community which creates instability in a province an area which creates instability in the region and neighbors in neighboring countries are involved and therefore it is a breeding ground of terrorism of further instability in the whole region if you look at as you want to i would like to say that women are the key agents to counter insurgency he'd go to cancun and if you provide security for and protection to them which is basically you know i with it it's the best way to equip them by empowering economically power within them you are actually taking the woman from a passive role to an active role becoming the major decision maker you know and  family and i believe let me let me ask you to expand on this idea i mean if we could sell the notion that women are a key agent of counterinsurgency if that were accepted as fact then from that should flow on investment in women so if you could just stretch that out a little what do you mean i can give you know very concrete example of this a friend of mine who's running  by a woman and she said my my son has joined the extremist and i don't be surprised if he ends up doing some suicide bombings so my friend traveled all the way to the tribal area she sat there with her son and she opened up the koran and she really into prated the jihad you know the and how those boys or young men are you know brainwashed so i'm telling you about the power using them with other a tribal women and how can how they can counter this ideology extremism and the second you know recommendation that i have and i've been advocating about is that you integration of human rights are not applicable or relevant in the what you can do is that there are six basic rights in islam which are given which are not disputed which are not controversial number one your right to choose to marry your right to divorce without evidence number three the widow does not need the consent of the family to get married without it number four your fixed financial inheritance number five the the management and the control over your financial assets and property and number six there is no concept of dowry in islam it's a lot of violence out of my experience as a journalist and a legislator revolves around these issues we can actually use this humanistic ethics ethical side of islam and you know where you can in the world the discourse of islam and because in the end you know what you're fighting is an ideology to pursue this at another time because i'm really interested and trying to figure out as a member of the television's committee as head of the co chair of the women's caucus how we move this this i just wanted to make sure we put one thing on the record i know and with congresswoman schakowsky and others as a co sponsor of the international violence against women act and i think it's so important it's also important for us to acknowledge here in the united states obviously we have issues around violence against women this is not about dictating to the world but it's actually you know demonstrating to the world that in our work on violence against women and work you know around the globe that when women live without violence  to achieve economic success build communities build strong families and as you described provide for security and sustainability i think that's the message really for the international community and for our government and i just i mean i think one of the challenges has been and perhaps dr barker you could at answer this i mean one of the challenges has been how the united states government in our foreign aid and policy can identify appropriate metrics by which to measure improvements in the lives of women in terms of violence those natural acts to make determinations about where we deploy resources how we deploy resources i think that the department of state in some of its newer efforts is really trying to do that but we don't have the metrics quite yet so that we can apply across the board in terms of measuring the improvement in women's lives and then i do want to i think i've been working these traditional efforts around conflict resolution strategies i've never felt that they actually fully embrace conference resolution that actually incorporates this idea of ending violence against women is sort of like everybody else at the table when it comes to conflict resolution but not women i think general as you described if i think we have to rethink in conflict zones in particular those strategies and those models that we've just used for decades that really are not appropriate to address the security and sustainability issues that all of you described in some quick comments about that i run first on the question of metrics and i think there's two ways to answer that one is simply to countries have in place legal mechanisms for protection are they taking seriously women's accounts and reports of in prosecuting that we have the mechanism set up with seed off and it be great for the members of this commission to work with your colleagues in the senate as well to get the u s to be a member of nations that's that has also ratified so there is that mechanism that those countries need to have a place those laws terms of measurement we know a lot about how to ask women about it about their we know how to measure prevalence now we've only got a few success stories out there of countries that have been able to measure prevalence declining but we do know how to measure that we know how to measure ask men about it about attitudes related to it knowledge about laws and attitudes toward existing laws we do have ways of bring it on what we have to do is convince countries to measure that in a systematic way and really make sense of are they making progress on it so that perhaps we can come back in five or ten years and same country acts in city why we've been able to actually reduce panel discussion and i appreciate you being here but your your work and and this is an issue that this committee is going to spend a lot of time on and we look forward to a continued conversation in the future but thank you so much for your incredible when i work with testimony like you can actually access my