embassador steinberg both of whom i consider friends and people that i have profound respect for  today we will address a subject that should concern all those who profess an interest in international peace the role of women across the globe there are multiple examples of heroic women exercising leadership in their countries attempting to end conflict and building a future for themselves and their children at all levels of society from grass roots from grass roots meetings to the halls of the united nations women striving to achieve and maintain peace to seek reconciliation and to promote reconstruction of failing states and societies the united nations recognize the vital role women play in conflict resolution with the passage of un security council resolution so two hundred twenty five in the year two thousand b resolution thirteen twenty five was not simply an acknowledgment of these contributions because it calls on all of us to do more to ensure women a great a voice in the peace building process resolution thirteen twenty five asks member states to ensure increased representation of women at all decision making levels and national regional and international institutions and to support gender training to service providers it also asked the unite do united nations security general to appoint more women to high level posts as well as to field field based operations operational positions especially as military observers and civilian police the resolution recognizes the disproportionate to women and children caused by conflict they are the overwhelming majority of the refugees internally displaced persons in any conflict and they are too often the targets of combatants and i and elements the consequences of such targeting in terms of reconciliation in durable peace are profound thirteen twenty five urges all sides to a conflict to protect women from gender based violence particularly rape and other sexual abuse it also calls on all parties to end the impunity which is all too common and prosecute those responsible for war crimes relating to sexual violence this issue cannot be over emphasized the united nations fund for women estimates that one in three worldwide will experience gender based violence in her lifetime and in some countries that figure exceeds seventy percent i want to commend the chair of the full committee how would berman for recently introducing the international violence against women act legislation which could place the united states at the forefront of the global battle against gender based violence in my own lifetime i served previously as the district attorney the state's attorney in the metropolitan violence initiative and program in the united states and that program has been replicated not only elsewhere in this country but worldwide and i'm very proud to say that for better than a decade as the result of that unit and that effort there was no domestic violence aside in my jurisdiction for twelve years or so is i thank you so as i look back on my own life it's i said that it's part of it's a priority it's always been a priority for me and it can happen if people of goodwill come together it can happen not only locally but not only at the state level not only nationally but i can assure you internationally so again i want to commend how would berman the chairman of this committee but thirteen twenty five goes beyond the issue of gender based violence that recognizes that the best way to achieve sustainable peace is doing gauge that half of the population that is too often an represented at peace talks by understanding the impact of conflict on women and and by fully engage engaging them in the peace process we can best maintain and promote international peace and security this is a concept that is so obvious in its logic but yet difficult far from simple to implement and while the bush administration has solidly supported thirteen twenty five there is much more to do to achieve its objectives to begin i think it's l past time for the united states to more coherently pursue strategies in our foreign policy and assistance that will ensure that woman's voice is i welcome feedback from this panel on how best that can be accomplished and that is why i support house resolution one four six introduced by my friend and colleague from texas rep we representative e t bernice johnson which calls on the united states to meet its obligations as set forth in thirteen twenty five and let me take just a moment to say how audited we are that representative johnson has joined us today we are also on it by the presidents of congresswoman event clock of the state of new york and my colleague from massachusetts and to friend congresswoman mickey  tsongas the only female in the massachusetts delegation we're so glad that she's with us and i ask unanimous consent that the sixteen colleagues be allowed to participate as full members of the subcommittee for the purpose of receiving testimony and taking questions and now let me turn to my ranking member and colleague and friend dana rohrabacher for any comments that he wishes to make at this time thank you very much mr chairman and i appreciate your holding this hearing it's again another subject needs to be discussed and i'm very happy that we are here today to begin that dialogue and i will begin myself by saying that i have the greatest respect and admiration for the gentle lady from texas representative john he is widely known as an effective legislator and i have enjoyed serving with her for many years on the science committee however due to the fact that her resolution a resolution one forty six urges the united states to take actions that little about the united nations sure curity council resolution thirteen twenty five which includes the creation of a panel i unfortunately  oppose that concept i certainly do not believe that the united states should be turning over any authority and decision making on any subject to a panel of the united nations united nations is generally made up of the countries as a do not in any way meet the standards that we believe in the united states especially the standard democratic standards of elections as well as honesty except drugs while many of the goals which you suggested are part of that resolution are certainly admirable goal the very last thing that i would want to do is turn over some sort of authority to a panel which we don't know who they would be made up right now in the united nations there are plenty of countries in the united nations that i would want to have no say over judging the united states of america whether it's burma or saudi arabia or any number of countries for any number of reasons so i will just submit my opening statement for the record which indicates for example there are different norms of different countries in the u n like the saudis and and different countries in africa which have different norms of the way they treat women as well as other countries in the world like china where baby girls are murdered with forced abortions and women having to put up with forced abortions people have those different values and i am proud of the united states of america has a very strong commitment to equal justice for all and you compare what our standards are to the rest of the world the last thing i think we want to do is empanel a group of people from the rest of the world we may come from countries with totally different values than we have to pass judgments on us so  i certainly support the many of the things that you brought up that are in this resolution i would have to oppose it because i see it as i say as an empowerment of the united nations and a diminishing  that as you say the things that you have already outlined in your opening statement are not a lot of tory and very positive goals for us as a nation leaving the united nations then judges on that is a whole different issue so thank you very much mr chairman thank you thank you gainer and i'm sure it's rather clear at this point in time that my good friend and i have some very serious differences please let me let me yield to  representative johnson for a statement thank you mr chairman good afternoon i'm so pleased that you invited me to be here and  ranking member of barker i want to say that we're going to work together and passes with i'm delighted that we've been joined by two my colleagues because working with the women's issues for international interests have been hard to come by for you or for welcome  and i especially like to thank all of the panel members who have come and most especially ambassador swanee hunt who has been such a dedicated worker a good friend of mine and  has done so much throughout the world for women mr rohrbach and when you hear her story you'll understand more clearly why we have this amendment here this is not a resolution this is not the first time you know i've been introduced as now fair all terms but i'm hoping that this might be the last time and we can try to do something i answered duce the resolution to express that the united states should take action to meet its obligation to women and girls as agreed in the united nations security council resolution thirteen twenty about and that the united states should fully assume the implementation of international law all related to human rights that protect the rights of women and girls door in and after conflicts i have visited was so many women who  the united nations security council resolution addresses the impact of war and conflict on women encourages women's participation and peacekeeping and conflict resolution it is it is not anything that i think this country does not stand for the resolution states that women's participation at all decision making levels should increase and local national and international institutions involved in conflict prevention management and resolution i have written to the president and written to the peace negotiators for the middle east african them to please include women because when they do we'll get it done it calls on member states to ensure the protection and respect for human rights of girls and women particularly efforts most share the responsibility that encompasses all regardless of race class gender or religion and it has absolutely nothing to do with abortion and i will try to explain that to congressman smith  i look forward to hearing these distinguish members who have come of the panel and i look forward to working with my colleagues we've done it before i know we can do it again and i chairman to the distinguished chairman mr delahunt ranking member mr rollback or and to my colleagues on this subcommittee i want to personally thank you today for holding a hearing an allowing me to participate on an extremely important and significant issue for me i want to commend representative eddie bernice johnson for her tenacity vision insight leadership your courage despite the fear mongering opposition that exists out there i'm certain will prevail in the end like mercury or quicksilver you will find that justice always finds its way to freedom i want to thank the chair for his interest in evaluating u n security council resolutions thirteen twenty five and address many of the concerns of how women can play a more fundamental and critical role in achieving peace and security at the woman and a member of congress i strongly believe that i have a civic in moral duty to ensure that women throughout the world are not adversely affected by the atrocities of war and conflict and make certain that women play an integral role and actively participate in all aspects of any peacekeeping process to bring about global sustainability i look forward to hearing from our panelists today you are the individuals that will lead us into a sustainable and more peaceful society globally we look forward to hearing your suggestions our recommendation is and be able to make sure that it's applied to all of the strategies going forward until we find that women have their rightful role  partnership in the growth and development of our mutual civil society thank you once again mr chairman for your invitation and i look forward to hearing testimony today thank you congressman would you please congresswoman tsongas my colleague from massachusetts her work but it's fortuitous that we're here today to talk about the impact of war and conflict on children and families and to hear from you your thoughts about how we here in congress can be most helpful and how the broader international community has a responsibility to bear so i thank you chairman delahunt my colleague for inviting me to participate and i look forward to hearing your testimony thank you and and i'm going to call on because of their personal friendship and she's already done some of your resume but we'll let her finish with the rest of it she's not here right now then just let me welcome i think she had another in by the way please don't perceive us to be rude buzzes come off here as  aware i'm sure to be a series of votes we have a very poor scheduling apparatus and there are multiple commitments that each of the members have  in any event let me i'm delighted to welcome embassador hunt who has been instrumental in advocating for thirteen twenty five full adoption in the united nations and across the globe embassador hunt is the founding director of the woman and public policy program at harvard's kennedy school of government she's also president of hunt alternatives fund which supports social change at local national and global levels she chairs the initiative for inclusive security which advocates for the full participation of woman in peace process he's from one thousand nine hundred three to one nine hundred ninety seven she served democracy conference convening three hundred and twenty women leaders in business law and politics from thirty nine nations the conference gave rise to the documentary entitled voices steinberg was the deputy president for policy of the international crisis group prior to joining the crisis group he was a jennings randolph seen new fellow at the u s institute of peace in two thousand and four he retired from the u s department of state after a twenty nine year career during his tenure there he served as ambassador it's of the republic of angola director of state department's joint policy council special representative of presidents clinton and bush for global humanitarian humanitarian demining and the special haiti coordinator and that's when we we we first met his work there was extraordinary i can testify to that firsthand he's a winner of more than a dozen of was including the state department distinguished service award which is that apartments highest performance award he holds a master's degrees in journalism from columbia and a political economy from the university of toronto as well as a bachelor's degree from recall and in my opening remarks i used the term heroic women well we have three such remarkable women today before us who will tell us their personal experiences about seeking peace and reconciliation in their home countries betty gombe is currently a distinguish at the woodrow wilson international center for scholars she is best known for her role as chief mediator in the twenty year old northern uganda conflict between the government and the rebel force known as the la engage the government and the rebels in talks this initiative paved the way for the ongoing peace talks between the government of uganda and the laws resistance army in was also a senior fellow at the u s institute of peace welcome isn't on it to have you here rena amaechi returned to her native afghanistan in february two thousand and two to take part in peace building and reconstruction efforts following three decades of instability and war she sure as a political affairs officer in the office of the special representative of the secretary general at the united nations assistance mission in afghanistan and as a member of the political unit implementing the bawn peace accords she oversaw managed elections for women nomads refugees and minorities at risk in the provinces of afghanistan and in the refugee camps in iran and pakistan she has also served as a liaison for political parties in the presidential elections and as part of the united nations assistance mission and afghan independent human rights team currently she serves as a senior regional advisor with the central your asia project middle east not africa initiative at the open society institute welcome and it certainly is an honor to have you  encourages woman from law affected areas to become active participants in peace building she also serves as the secretary general for woman action for development in the role be kenya she facilitates activities with grassroots organizations political authorities and other stakeholders she also organize organize field visits with groups from both the north and south of s and conducts workshops on conflict resolution negotiation leadership advocacy and peace awareness for woman in refugee camps in sudan kenya and elsewhere she has led delegations to meet mediation officials and representatives of the international authority on developments peace initiative in nairobi it's an honor to have you here and welcome and last but certainly not least a janet shot across ph d is a senior fellow at the beverly la haye institute the think tank the concerned women for america in two thousand and two and two thousand and three she has twice served the president as an official delegate to the united nations she serves on the following national task forces and coalition against sexual trafficking against abuse of woman against child who would be city promoting human rights and promoting religious freedom the heritage foundation nominated her for the two thousand and three bradley prize for her influence on contemporary issues before coming to the be alive dr kraus was president of cross communications a public relations and political analysis for she also directed the economic economical coalition on women and society a project of the institute on religion and democracy previously she was associate vice president for academic affairs at taylor university and best of the hunt i understand you have been asked by senator hutchinson to read a statement from her would you care to begin with that i'd be glad to chairman delahunt and ranking member thank you for your invitation to testify on the importance of women's inclusion in preventing conflicts and promoting peace and security it is my honor to introduce my dear this is a little self serving here it is my honor to introduce my dear friend and fellow texan  i remember our trip to bosnia shortly after the peace accord was signed i was highly impressed with the local women who repeatedly came together to work on specific initiatives to foster stability and reconciliation i'm keenly aware of the many contributions american women make to protect our country here and abroad they join women from around the world who struggle daily to prevent violence in their communities and constantly promote stability reconciliation just as american women want safe neighborhoods access to education and thriving communities so do the women in sudan iraq and afghanistan and other countries where violence is prevalent and just as we rely on american women to play an active role in strengthening us democracy so to must we support women in these countries as they work to curtail hostility and secure peace in today's volatile world where most conflicts are fought in urban environments it is imperative that we explore every option toward preventing and defeating the insurgent violence that plagues so many cities worldwide there are many women living in areas of conflict today that can help in so many ways especially in providing human intelligence and helping with reconciliation and reconstruction women are currently providing key intelligence in iraq and afghanistan and have played vital roles in other conflicts from northern ireland to bosnia every attention must be given to the importance of women to security and peace in countries like iraq sudan uganda and afghanistan these women are true heroines and we desperately need their experience and help to achieve a sustainable peace where there were main inherent conflict thank you mr chairman thank you ambassador and  concern about the u n security council resolution thirteen twenty five and i won't repeat what you have said about that and ranking member or boxer thank you for inviting me and you know what we're going to work together on this  on this resolution i promise you you know we're going to find a way because you know what you actually you would be behind ninety nine point nine percent of the u n security council resolution thirteen twenty five truly really so we'll fix this ok i have no doubt ok all right now to congresswoman tsongas point about the armed services the washington post recently had a cover story about army specialist monica brown she's only the second woman in history to be awarded the silver star and specialist brown is one of over twenty six thousand american women serving in iraq and afghanistan and this article pointed out that these women are valued by the military not only for their skills as soldiers but also because of their cultural sensitivity to connect with local women and congresswoman gillibrand and other members have told me repeatedly that if we value women's cultural sensitivity as warriors then the u s government should also value them as peacemakers i began promoting a more inclusive concept of security when i was u s ambassador in austria and i was working on the conflict in the balkans that's how i met that when i worked with senator hutchinson but i became particularly aware of the in attention of the international community to use these talented well educated women to in the conflict so here we have yugoslavia which was torn apart by this war that that cost two hundred thousand lives and they had the highest percentage of women ph d s of any country in europe and yet when we convene the parties in vienna for peace talks and later when those p talk peace talks happened in dayton there was not one woman on any of the delegations so out of fifty or sixty people in those delegations not one woman i was fascinated by this and i discovered that this wasn't just about the balkans in fact when i went to the n and i asked an official there how come there aren't any women on any of the african delegations i was told by this un official well the warlords won't have women because they're afraid the women will compromise and i thought well wouldn't that be lovely i mean isn't that what a negotiating team is supposed to do so i started this initiative called inclusive security and that's the course now that i teach at harvard at the kennedy school and what it does is it recognizes that that the whole nature of conflict has changed so in world war one ten percent of the casualties were the civilians and ninety percent were the soldiers and nowadays it's it's flipped ninety percent of the people who are killed are civilians and ten percent are the soldiers so if in fact we have a new a new scenario in terms of war then we need to have a new scenario in terms of how we understand stopping war and it's not just about the absence of war it's about sustainable peace so how do you create this this mechanism for a sustainable peace where you've got to have different tools you need to have this wider array you've got to have all the local stakeholders involved and they can then be available to the police to the military to the diplomatic structures and women are half of these people they're the ones who on the ground are doing these local initiatives and so when you sideline them it's not only fundamentally undemocratic but it's it's really in a fission and in fact it's foolish so this isn't just about fairness and women's rides this is that women are critical to these peace processes at every stage whether it's prevention or during the war that the negotiations whether it's the transitional justice afterwards or any other part of of the post conflict reconstruction that the mobilization or their reintegration whether the mediators and especially the u s congress i think would be interested in knowing that the higher the percentage of women you have in these processes the better the governance the closer you get to what we value mr about her so much in terms of good governance you king about the corruption and you were talking about the problems in these other countries in the un get more women get a critical mass of women not just one he woman here and one woman there that's that it get a critical mass of women into these positions of leadership and you will see a drop in the corruption and you talk to these women about why and you know what they say they say i know that any dollar i put into my pocket is not going into a school it's not going into a hospital so women lead these conflict resolution efforts and we have this compelling evidence and yet if you look around at the major conflicts dar for to afghanistan iraq you will be amazed i think you would be shocked to see how underrepresented they are in every area in the peace negotiations the constitution drafting the peacekeeping missions again the un peacekeeping missions the women are not there in positions of leadership so what do we do about it well this initiative has put together a global network of these women leaders we have over eight hundred of them and we're working in fifty conflicts and we are connecting these women leaders to five or six thousand policymakers at this point in fact you make five thousand and six today and these women are spectacular and they are civil society leaders they are appointed and elected political officials they scholars business people their representatives from multilateral organizations their investigative journalists i mean think about the role that journalists play in stopping of war but you can take all these different backgrounds and perspectives and you come up with different solutions when you have different people around the table and over the last decades these women have led major initiatives and you you have some real spectacular women at this table today and they are only representing hundreds more so i am very very honored to have you here and my friends and by the way that includes janice with  whom i've worked for about nine years and let me conclude here by saying i spent time sometimes in liberia and if i could just wet your imaginations right now and take you to liberia a fourteen year brutal war and finally the women said enough enough and thousands of them grassroots women and educated women they got together and they said we're going to sit out here in the sun in the rain until we get a peace agreement thousands of them and they they wore all white for sackcloth and ashes and you know what else they denied their men sex but i don't know if you want that in the record but they did it on the record all right well so then they finally got charles taylor and the other warlords  agree to go into the peace talks and they surrounded the building they literally surrounded the building where the peace talks were going on and they locked these men in and said you're not coming out until you have a peace agreement because this is wrecking our lives it's wrecking our country and no more and that was the movement that elected ellen johnson sirleaf the first woman elected president in africa and you know what she did when she became president she brought in not just a woman as the minister of youth and sports or gender and development she brought in women as minister of finance minister of commerce minister of justice and chief of police and you're looking at one of the few real success stories in africa in terms of the wars so i think that the u s congress and administration can learn from these lessons and i would like to close my testimony with a quote from earlier this week from secretary rice empowering women must be a fundamental component of any relevant and effective foreign policy in today's world so often it takes only one woman to make a difference if you empower that woman with information and training she can live her entire family and contribute to the success of her community multiply that one woman's impact by a hundred or a thousand and thank you mr chairman it is indeed an honor to be here and it is an honor to testify before your subcommittee given the tremendous respect for you as well as the ranking minority member  congressman rohrabacher i've spent three years three decades in my career negotiating supporting and implementing peace agreements around the world including afghanistan and goal  brazil haiti malaysia and south africa and if there's a singular message that has come out from that three decades it is that the systematic exclusion of women as planners implemente beneficiaries of these peace process is the clearest way to do a process that's the guiding principle in fact behind un security council resolution thirteen twenty five which is in essence a game plan for how to involve half of the world's population in these processes by ensuring that there is gender equality in political leadership by building gender sensitive security forces by supporting women as they return to their homes as ensuring security and safety for women in refugee camps and ensuring accountability for sexual violence and rape and other abuses this was a resolution that was long overdue and for me it's deeply personal i was in one nine hundred ninety four bill clinton's n s c adviser for africa and i helped negotiate the angolan peace agreement that helped and three decades of civil war that had cost a half million lives and left three million people homeless and i remember at the end of the process when we signed the agreement thinking to myself how proud i was that this included nothing that was discriminatory against women and in fact i gave a speech boasting that this agreement is gender neutral well then president clinton asked me to go out and help implement the agreement as his ambassador and a member of the peace commission and it took me about two weeks to realize that a peace agreement that is gender neutral is by definition discriminatory women and as some would say gender stupid for example there was no mandate to include women in the peace commission that was actually implementing the agreement and so you had forty men sitting around the table talking about or more frequently not talking about issues like trafficking in women and children restoring the health care system for women providing girls education addressing sexual violence and getting women back to their homes we base the agreement on thirteen separate amnesties we forgave each side for anything they did in the context of war there was even one amnesty that forgave you for anything you might do six months in the future well in vironment where most of the crimes that we're looking at as swanny is mentioned are crimes against women this means that men with guns are forgiving other men with guns for crimes committed against women we sent male combatants back to their home and we gave them a little bit of money and some food some  tools but what we didn't focus on was that they had no roles in their community they had been gone for a decade or more and their societies had learned to live without them and so the immediate thing we saw frustration building up domestic violence i wish i could say the same thing about angola that you said about your district because there were massive amounts of deaths from domestic violence there was drug abuse there was rape there was child abuse it was as if we ended the civil war just to launch new violence against women finally we even did things like well meaning exercises like clearing the roads of landmines about a million land mines were planted during the war so we got three million people returning to their homes but we didn't do mine the fields and the wells and the forests to which they returned and so as women as they always do in these societies went out to fill the fields or collect firewood or collect water they were blowing their legs off in a rash of landmine accidents we recognize these problems pretty quickly and we took important steps we brought out gender advisors and human rights advisors we develop programs in maternal health care girls education we empowered women's n g o s but in reality it was all ad hoc and it was playing catch up and so i was so pleased in two thousand when the united nations adopted and pas resolution thirteen twenty five i was so excited about it that i actually changed the pin number on my a t m card to one three to five which probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to say before congress since i don't know where on my wall it is but in reality replayed again and all over the span by the right on c span and all the rest right the problem is that thirteen twenty five has largely been a dream deferred there were no monitoring mechanisms no accountability mechanisms no enforcement mechanisms in that provision we are still seeing women raped and traffic rebel movements and governments alike even in a place like the eastern congo where we have seventeen thousand un peacekeepers courageous and talent women who want to step forward are facing discrimination in legal cultural and traditional practices there's a stigma of victimization in real danger that makes them think twice before they want to step forward man who are leading peace conferences are still excluding women or shunting them off into the ante room when the real negotiation takes place mr chairman in my written testimony i've gone through a whole series of recommendations for how to address those i just want to touch on a couple of those and i want to stress to you that legal scholars can debate whether thirteen twenty five as a u n resolution is binding on the united states or not i can see it being argued both ways i've looked at article twenty five chapter seven etc but that's not the point here the point is this is smart policy in american interest to implement these provisions first of all we have to ensure that any security council peacekeeping mission has a mandate to protect women and to include women in senior positions secondly we need to insist that any negotiation led by the united nations has at least twenty percent participation by women even if it takes quotas to do that and i would remind you that more than half of the countries in the world actually have these quotas this is not an aberration it's the norm third while we all recognize the need for forgiveness and reconciliation after conflict never should we allow amnesty for rape used as a weapon of war fourth the united nations has to be forced to appoint more women to senior positions there are currently thirty eight leaders of missions in the world these are the equivalent of ambassadors from the united nations to these countries thirty seven are men there is one woman and that happens to be in liberia and i suspect that's because johnson sirleaf would not accept anything else finally the united states has to lead by example all of our diplomatic and military personnel have to become familiar with thirteen twenty five committed to it and empowered to do something about it mr chairman in conclusion i think our real problem here is that it's been that we've looked at women in the situation solely is victims and that we've seen protection of women as the soft side of peace building mr chairman there's nothing soft about preventing the armed thugs in refugee camps from terrorizing women there's nothing soft about going after traffickers who turn women and young girls into commodities or warlords holding them accountable for crimes against women or forcing to mobilize soldiers to stop wife and child abuse or insisting that there is a seat at the table for women in peace negotiations in post conflict governance these are indeed the hardest responsibilities we face and i commend this committee for shining a spotlight on them with this hearing here today thank you ambassador and i can assure you that as one member nation chair this committee will review closely your recommendations let me just say that i concur or fully with your observations i think you have just provided us with a history of why we have failed and how we can improve we're going to have a sherry's of votes that will probably last about somewhere between forty and forty five minutes i know my my ranking and when i return we'll hear from the remaining members of the panel please good afternoon mr chairman i feel extremely honored and privileged to testify you to testify before you today as a woman with almost twenty years of hands paternity that the inclusion of women in mediation and negotiation process is is an essential element to achieving a sustainable and lasting peace in my capacity as government official and then later as chief mediator i remained intimately involved in the efforts to bring peace to my country in two thousand and four i organized the first ever face to face meeting between  an government representatives and the brutal lord's resistance army along with women traditional leaders and you this eventually paved the way for the peace talks that you mentioned in your opening remarks there are many compelling reasons why women as effective peacemakers first women are often very pragmatic when it comes to getting their son their it was a group of women will correct the food work for an initiative i had developed to provide rebel come out combatants with incentives to defect from the l r a the plan was clear i drafted letters assure increasing calls security and resettlement keep which which were then delivered by the women to their loved ones involved in the fighting within the span of two short months approximately without any military showdown or bloodshed second with the within the context of negotiation being a woman can bring about a different type of communication dynamic when deep in the jungle talking to the brutal and i are a leader joseph cohen i was granted the special status of mother which in the african cultural context meant that i had o respect these enabled me to assume an almost parental tone of authority with him one which was ripper munden hard lined and yet not perceived as threatening immediate and long term on the family and the community at large again in uganda it was the women who successfully lobbied to create a victim's compensation fund it was women was spearheaded the movement to ensure that the definition of ceasefire includes halting rape by combat and overall it is a people centered approach that women tend to advocate with a focus on rebuilding the fundamentals of society that key to achieving sustainable peace for women have unique ability of ten based on the experience in crafting gender appropriate responses to gender specific issues this includes concede considering the needs of female sex combatants who are often most invisible victims in th types of conflicts in uganda and i can say d l c and other countries that have gone through conflict countless young women many of them merely girls have been abducted by the load by the by the rebels forced to serve as both sex slaves and the mystic slaves they are also expected to engage in acts of violence sometimes killing their own family members and members of their own communities i believe the united states has in some ways acted as a leader in helping move reason lucian's thirteen twenty five beyond retiring your government's invaluable assistance through multilateral partners regions many regions of the world these measures represent a good beginning however united states can and should do more developing a comprehensive action plan for five would send a strong message to the rest of the world that united states is serious about giving these three solution to having no action having an action plan would also lend weight and credibility to american diplomatic efforts by allowing the us to put more pressure on other member states to be more rigorous in their domestic implementation of the reason lucian pressure impact thank you thank you so much and we will recess for approximately forty five minutes it will be no further votes i shall return hoping that i'll be joined by as you're aware we just finished our final votes today and i expect at least one of my colleagues to to rejoin us but if we could proceed with opening statements and i think if you are ready please proceed and make sure to have that in so that the people that are viewing this and i'm importance of women in building sustainable peace and security in afghanistan it really is an honor to be here the first the dramatic fall of the taliban and witnessed widespread appeal from the international community including from this administration to the plight of han women be addressed and that women be included in the peace process this coupled with the un security council's unanimous adoption of resolution thirteen twenty five provided a powerful framework for ensuring women's inclusion in the peace process women participated in the bonn and official bond talks and the bond agreement provided unequivocal commitment to their inclusion and the peace building process these international prior to sation of women's involvement created the conditions for women's involvement in the peace process in afghanistan but it was women afghan women themselves who transformed these conditions into realities and two thousand and two when i returned to afghanistan i was sent by the un to go to kandahar it was quite early in two thousand and two where there while the taliban didn't have their guns it was certainly present in the area and i had somebody come to my office it was an afghan woman who had been i thought a woman teacher who had spent the years under the taliban regime and her house deprived of any opportunity to work aren't gauging any public activities she walked into my office pulled her burka back looked me straight in the  the transitional administration would be selected she did end up becoming one of the hundred women who participated in this assembly she went on to become one of the women who one of the twenty percent of the women who participated in the constitutional assembly that ratified a new afghan constitution she contested the parliamentary elections and now she's one of the twenty percent seven percent of the women who serve as parliamentarians at this is a testament if i can interrupt you just for a moment or maybe it was six months to a year ago there was a documentary on p b s by any chance was this woman the subject of that documentary if you know i'm not sure which documentary th case it's one story that i tell but there are many women like her in afghanistan women who at the moment but they recognize that there was an opportunity opening up for them that and spite of the limitations that they had faced in the past the fact spite of being traumatized beyond any degree i think that any of us can understand they seized the opportunity and not only did they seize the opportunity they maximized it  the constitution of a prior to the constitutional process on women activists and leaders developed a coalition and which they drafted language to be included in the draft constitution  providing for the equal rights of women and men in addition to providing language that protected the rights of minorities and that protected the rights of the handicapped they succeeded through a meeting with with various members of the international community as well as the president of the of afghanistan the head of the constitutional commission and getting to land which included in the draft constitution and eventually having this language ethnic lines paralyzing the process the women interesting lee picked this moment despite the fact that the men there were literally sitting in different parts of the room and one part actually left the room and had frozen the process the women decided at that point to work across coalition lines and use this moment as a strategic point to lobby for a quota providing for twenty five percent of the despite the fact that these women not like each other they were also included but they had similar sentiments the men about some of the tensions that that had emerged they walked in and they worked across their differences and effectively lobbied for the support of the united states and the u n for the position that they were advocating and adopt getting what they had thought of getting twenty five percent of the parliamentary seats many man at that point said it's fine they got it but there's never going to be enough afghan women to actually engage in this process they kept going to let me interrupt you again since i have the gavel and there's no one else is going to become a conversation in the aftermath you indicated that there were differences and i'm sure they were in some cases significant differences among the women after they went through this process where they came together a lot advocated and succeeded to the relationships among them change today have a better understanding of each other and  their differences while still existing become less of an impediment to their relationships most of these women had known each other prior to all of these tensions they own that they came to agreement on this particular issue recognizing that they had they had and would continue to have significant differences along different lines but that they had to work together and this type of pragmatism that they exhibited was noting that most people dismissed is that there would be enough women candidates to contest these elections simply because they didn't have the experience they didn't have the confidence they didn't have the education well it turned out that close to three hundred thirty women contested these elections despite the fact that these women throughout the country were facing regular threats credible threats they were facing limitations in terms of resources these women were poor and no one was helping them even international organizations because of the limitations that they had placed upon them could not provide support to any candidate they had mobility restrictions and they also faced cultural  restrictions in spite of all of this women across the country even in very insecure areas contested the lections and i remember one where there was one woman who had faced a significant number of threats and she came to my office and i had to ask her i said why why are you putting yourself through this and she said this is the moment that this window has opened and it will close and regardless of what happens i have to see i have to take advantage of that and that is the sentiment that afghan women carry with them the perception i think that through much of what's going to fade in the media is that afghan women are victims afghan women are much more than victims they're agents of social change they're resilient they're determined and despite the fact that they face significant limitations in terms of getting entry into many sectors including for example the security sector less than one percent of women are represented and the afghan national response units which are addressing a lot of the problems that are brought in that the police simply didn't have the resources to deal with in the past oftentimes if a woman came in or if a family came in  with a situation of domestic abuse the woman would be put in prison and men would be put in another prison or oftentimes the man would be let go when the woman would be kept in prison women in the legal sector again significant limitations there isn't by much effort we don't have a woman and the represented in the supreme court and there's a handful of women who serve as our judges prosecutors  but even then afghan women activists are quickly have been learning that the best route of advancing women's rights is equipping themselves with religious knowledge and arguments and are using this to dialogue and allows for the discussion of taboo subjects women are creating that space now despite this problem progress it has and has to be still acknowledged that women face considerable challenges life for women and rural afghanistan remains unchanged women continue to fall at the bottom of global poverty health and education indicators moreover there is a culture of  and weak security and the absence of rule of law mechanisms place of honest afghan women and a dangerous and vulnerable vulnerable position women there's pervasive violence against women women are the victims of rape often cite silent and frequently resorting to suicide a to emulation to burning themselves to escape desperate situations i actually visited a center and hit at western iraq which is a western province and there were fifty women from all age ranges who had simply take taken a match in kerosene and burnt themselves and had two thirds of their body burned and they were going the majority of them were not going to survive but this is how desperate their situation afghanistan and iraq i suspect however that there will be another proposal that will come forward in terms of assistance to both iraq and actually the assistance aspect of the so called supplemental budget but i'm sure there will be other opportunities i would appreciate if you working with your colleagues and working with other women in afghanistan would make recommendations to the committee in terms of conditioning that assistance in a way that would enhance protection for women in afghanistan against that sexual violence against those  the i don't i don't want to use the term but i guess i'll have to cultural norms that put women in such incredible desperate straits and i don't mean that as a condemnation of afghan culture you know we've had our own culture here in the united states we had a so called rule of thumb which meant  entitled to a defense if he beat his wife with a stick that was less insert conference than the size of a stop and as i'm sure you're aware women have only recently achieved whole equal rights in this country you need and then it's not necessary those rights are not necessarily fully implemented but the kind of assistance that i'm talking about that i support bigger for afghanistan and i think that view is shared by most of my colleagues not just in this committee but in this congress it would be very very helpful to know how we can insist that the conditions that ensure and enhance the protection of women in the a participation in terms of the governance of terms of culture but i would say it's not just afghan culture it's a culture that's been affected by war by poverty and by radicalization and all of those elements women moreover there are there's increasing targeting of women and the revitalized insurgency there have been several incidents of school bombings and assassination of women leaders and teachers throughout the country colleagues and friends of mine including soppy amadan who is a director of the ministry of women's affairs and kandahar and zakia zaki a prominent journalists were violently gunned down for their activism and leadership to curb back some of that the chief means that women have made in public space and even in kabul women parliamentarians report getting daily threats and intimidation particularly women you know this is what happens when you go high traffic i think working now right ok we've been having continuing problems and intend to have a conversation with them just repeat that was significant gains have been made afghan women are far from realizing the principles of thirteen twenty five and much more needs to be done mr chairman supporting afghan women is not simply necessary from a moral point of view but from a strategic point of view even the modest gains of the last several of the last few years illustrate that women are playing a pivotal role in advancing the reform agenda they are courageous resilient and natural partners in this peace process the u s congress can help and that advance their engagement and leadership by one increasing funding for afghan women organizations particularly in the provinces to provide critical health literacy education and legal services urging the ministries of defense of interior of justice to provide women leaders to provide women professionals opportunities for engaging in these sectors purging president cuz i and his administration to take concrete measures to counter violence against women and sure in a quarter for women employees and p r ts to allow for consultation with women activists and leaders on the ground equipping women parliamentarians with the necessary legislative skills promoting women's recruitment across sectors and the leadership of honest on supporting voter education and women's involvement and the upcoming electoral process and at vance ng networking and coalition building among women parliamentarians and leaders so that they might be able to have a united voice and to advocate on their own behalf to further and direct support afghan women can share in a moderate and  inclusive and stable afghanistan goals that are at the heart of u s and international objectives thank you thank you so much mary and now we will go through and i'm going to make this pronunciation have been most severely affected by it sudan's conflict and their development but i would like to threats that we are not not passive victims i have travelled kenya in the year two thousand and five i was with other women colleagues many of them extensively involved in the process leading to the c p a i can tell you firsthand information how critical women were ending the war and how we have not stopped there we continue it we continue to call for the speedy implementation of the c as that people remain desperate to see peace dividend and today people want to see they don't want only to read and to shout that the agreement has been signed but they want to see the dividends what that is let me start by saying that during the war and the conflict in our country thousands of women joined the political struggle for peace with justice and i'm one of them we formed a network and n loud and loud and loud every time and when the talks grew tense and sometimes they would have done and they would call spent three days and run away with it no we continued to press men to ke so we wouldn't allow life to be lost we organize visit to that talk and we would actually we're going there every other time to go and tell them you have to push on you have to continue w calling for the men to stay at the peace table and we wanted to bring the women in so i have no doubt  to say that you made me leave in the peace talks please for three months i have forgotten my family but from the reply i knew very well that we were being had that our messages have been received include twenty five percent quota for women in the national attention we make sure that it goes inside there as the same way we have that twenty five percent in our constitution it was making and despite  happen to us when we stayed no we are not and there was no ability to influence and this portrayal could not be further from the truth late last year i witnessed that forty women coming together to identify a common priorities and speak with one voice i admire them very much and hope our experiences in south sudan can inspire and inform them again of representatives for the first time in this institution history the presiding officer the speaker of the house is a is a female congress conditions in our country i would also like to say that we require us aid contractors to ensure a minimum of fifty percent women beneficiaries and implemented of the reconstruction and for calling for gender to be a primary cross cutting team in all programs peace throughout two than is possible and i would like to repeat it's possible we have already thank you chairman delahunt and members of the committee as well i'm proud to be a part of this distinguished panel i was very moved by the stories of the three women and as an ambassador a hot commented i worked with her and with she didn't know steinberg for nearly a decade now so as usual we agree very much on the problems we disagree very much on the solutions so i'm very happy for this opportunity to address the subcommittee on such an important issue and at the bottom line is the united states responsibility regarding the united nations security resolution thirteen twenty five the problem is that the united states has not agreed to the obligations of thirteen twenty five that resolution refers to numerous u n treaties united states and has made no commitment to any of those treaties for instance we have not ratified the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women cdata or the convention on the rights of the child and we have withdrawn from the international criminal court the united states is not obligated to meet any of the commitments under these agreements nor do we have any of the obligations that  mentioned in the house resolution one forty six unifem has said that thirteen twenty five represents the big picture in terms of human rights and c the is the implementation  so i think it's really important for us at this committee and i guess as the final presentation why the united states has chosen not to make those commitments at the outset let me state unequivocally that in the united states equal rights are protected under the constitution and the bill of rights the human rights provisions of the un treaties are already available to citizens in the united states we embed a support the human rights of women and girls the so called women's rights movement and the gender mainstreaming effort have policy implications that go far beyond human rights concerns and that's my major concern about thirteen twenty five the issue in regard to united states to united nations treaties is a matter for the united states of national sovereignty it's a matter of quotas and it's a matter of the specific provisions of the various treaties that would challenge the laws and customs of the united states for america there are numerous problems associated with siedah which is the major major foundational treaty at the foundation of thirteen twenty five c the seeds national sovereignty the single condition that the founding fathers laid out for treaties of the united states were that they had to be constitutional seat violates that basic requirement see the would supersede all federal and state laws in addition see that would be enforced by twenty three a twenty three person oversight committee at the u n would be responsible for implementing  signatory nation thus the welfare and well being of american women and families would be at the mercy of twenty three individuals among whom the united states might not even have a voice so recent appointees to that twenty three member oversight committee proceed i included china cuba and iraq specific provisions of the see the treaty are very troublesome a lot of baggage comes along with this resolution that we're discussing today and the devil as they say is in the details let me just mention some of the troubling aspects of the treaty could be used to justify the legalization of prostitution and nations across the world have discovered that legalization inevitably increases illegal prostitution instituting same sex marriages and undercutting parental roles in child rearing and teaching values to their children let me be even more specific about five specific problems concerning sida see the definition of discrimination and equal rights is all encompassing and dangerous it goes beyond just as stablish inequality which u s laws already afford women the treaty language is far too vague and it would invite an avalanche of frivolous lawsuits in the united states say the could be used to revive the drive for a federal e r a that was summarily dismissed years ago number two seed undermines the traditional family structure in the united states and other nations that respect the family the preamble states the change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality between men and women see the men dates gender reeducation taxpayers and united states will be forced to pay the high cost of gender neutralizing all textbooks and school programs see the is a thinly veiled comparable worth mandate even though american women are prevalent in male dominated professions and earn a majority of the associates and bachelor's degrees as well as forty percent of the doctoral degrees and more than forty percent of the law and medical degrees as well in addition number five abortion is the driving force behind the seat treaty universal access to abortion on demand continues to be viewed as essential for women's equality pregnancy as it is viewed by many as hampering women's careers and lessening their ability to compete equally with men ratification of cedaw than could be used to broaden the scope of abortion in the united states just as it has and continues to be used for that purpose around the world so in conclusion today's hearing on house resolution one forty six dips a toe into the waters to test whether sida can now be ratified all of these treaties are linked so closely together it's impossible to separate them those who advocate most vehemently for sita don't need this treaty they've already enjoyed abundant materialism opportunities and negligible inequality poor women in developing nations are fighting for the basic needs of everyday life education literacy access to basic know medical needs nutrition the accounts of the war atrocities that we've heard today break our hearts but we cannot use these acts to push a treaty that carries so much unexpected baggage for us hiding under the guise of human rights and veiling intentions with appeals to needy women in developing nations activist insist that cd is necessary but mr chairman please let me repeat the united states has not agreed to the obligation of u n security resolution thirteen twenty five in the united states equal rights are protected under the constitution and the bill of rights the human rights provisions of un treaties are available to every citizen in the united states we emphatically support the human rights of women and girls the so called women's rights movement and gender mainstreaming effort have policy implications however that go far beyond the human rights concerns that we've talked about today the issue in regard to the un treaties is a matter of national sovereignty a matter of quotas and a matter of the specific provisions of the various treaties that would challenge the laws and the culture of the united states know that it calls for adoption of cedaw it utilizes for implementing all of the provisions of the document well i think there's some well i just want to be clear we are not a party to see the and if we terms of will we in terms of the u n security thirteen twenty five it does not call to require  see and i really want to i understand you're the minority witness here and i respect that and i respect your position at the same time it's my understanding and correct me or anyone can correct me that the bush administration actually has strongly supported the adoption of thirteen twenty five is that a fair statement on my  i'm not representing the bush administration i'm representing concerned women for america i understand that but i just want to be clear already president bush his administration strongly about that because the bill before or after he leaves office who who cast that vote who is the permanent permanent representative of the  states to the u n that cast the united states vote in support of u n security resolution thirteen twenty five  it was probably bill richardson because it was in two thousand but the the bush administration took to the g eight a a resolution which was passed that called for  be it called for a resolution to insist on women's full involvement in the peace process and named security council resolution thirteen twenty five as the basis for that but i would like steinberg excuse me just just a few comments first of all the only link between thirteen twenty five and see the is one clause in the resolution  cause nine that says all parties to war should in general support united nations ideas including and then that list as one of them it certainly does not by any means require american involvement in sida i would also point out though and i'm going to have to check this facts but when i was in the bush administration we actually had  accepted the fact that we had signed we had we put it as a low priority in terms of adoption by the senate but we certainly and the congress we certainly did not oppose  we said that there were some concerns that we were looking at as to whether it was consistent with federal laws state laws and those sorts of issues secondly i have to comment that i was a little bit confused  y congressman rohrbacher reference and the other speakers reference to some panel there is no panel in thirteen twenty five i don't know where that comes from i think maybe that's  itself but it has no relationship whatsoever with thirteen twenty five i'd also say that there's no provision in thirteen twenty five the even comes close to touching abortion and so that strikes me as just th that is raised i will also say that as an american diplomat for twenty nine years yes there is a cost to the united states not signing on to these sorts provisions even if within u s law there is a protection i don't know how many times i apologize for the fact that the united states and somalia were the only two countries that still have not ratified the rights of the child and i can't tell you the number of times i had to explain how good our human rights record is on gender issues when i was undercut in my diplomacy by someone who said well you haven't even signed sida and then listed all the countries around the world that had committed to that so there is a cost here yet all three of the lady talk today embassador have talked about the fact that the united states has provided leadership in their countries and human rights issues so you know the problem is not that we have opposed to see the but that we recognize the problems that are associated with that treaty that affect the united states so dramatically in terms of our national  terms of our quotas and those aspects of that treaty are very much you know this is an official u n document right here that talks about how the two documents the thirteen twenty five and seed are in linked together and work together and should you know right in the introduction it says the synergies across all the work and in these documents explore the ways in which resolution thirteen twenty five can expand the reach of see d and conversely the way sida deepens the impact and effectiveness of thirteen twenty five so they are meant to go together and that's very clear not just in thirteen twenty five but  that in terms of the protection of women and as all three of our guests from overseas have indicated how to maximize the potential that is so enormous to make them interval pot of creating peace and sustaining peace and being a incredible powerful force very clear that the bush administration a republican administration and many of my republican colleagues obviously with the exception of my friend from california  are enthusiastically supportive of you when one three to five and as you indicated you're going to talk to president bush and i hope you do and i hope you have a good conversation and wish him well in his retirement but at the same time i want to be clear to the panel and to those who will be watching this  this is not a partisan issue we have i think tremendous support for this initiative across party lines and i understand your group opposes it for reasons that you've articulated and i respect that but thirteen we have not signed cedaw thirteen twenty five in my opinion it certainly does not explicitly call for resolution put forth by the gentle lady from texas miss johnson should be heard before the full committee and i think it's very important to send a message to the world that we will work in a collaborative fashion through multilateral organizations to protect women and to utilize the special talents they have in terms of creating conditions of peace and hopefully we will all benefit from that i've recognized for years the talents of women i always said that if we had more women in leadership positions and and if you combine that with the draft the military draft of men over sixty years old that we would soon i think saw all most of the most of the conflicts that are that are destroying our world today somehow we would find that we would work it out before things got but i'm very appreciative of you giving that age limit i was a conscientious objector once i'm fifty five and i don't really want to be again well i i'm going to be sixty seven in july and i'm ready to go i hope you heard me loud and clear say that we agree on the problem i do and i respect that by the stories that we hear however i think we have to follow the admonition that we first do no harm and the solution to the problem is the crux not the problem itself we do have to address the problem no question about that but sometimes solutions can create greater problems and i think we need to be very conscious about the implications what can congress do in terms of woman's efforts in building peace and promoting security what can this institution but if you can be and i don't i know people there are other schedules and i don't want to continue this dialogue to the point where people are getting hungry or missing  planes or trains or buses or whatever finish by five o'clock all right please ok here it is congress should request the administration support programs that promote women's leadership in peace and security in fiscal years two thousand and two and two thousand and three u s assistance to afghanistan was close to one billion dollars and of that i'm out two hundred bells and went to afghan women n point zero two percent by the way the n g o s were there so don't listen to anyone who says we couldn't find them to hold more hearings just like this one and ensure that the witnesses include representatives from local women's organizations and i'm very very happy to help you and them three in every conflict call for women's involvement in every conflict women's involvement as mediators members of the negotiating teams service providers for the reconstruction in other words get the aid money to the women because right now they are bypassed and called for women in the governing structures and don steinberg will tell you that you can't just leave it to the negotiating teams in the conflict and and expect them to include women as the host you can require it for in your encounters with the u s and international and local actors working to resolve a conflict push for transparent and inclusive peace negotiations that empower forces for peace and not just the armed combatants what we do is we invite all the warlords around the table and tell them to design a peace process and that is bad casting ok fifty members and staff meet with local women when you're on code elves i mean we have all had these frustrating encounters with these stubborn local politicians these men who for refused to collaborate but i meet with the local women who are working across the lines so you've got a mix up what you do on co travel the world and i think it's important that we do that there ought to be a best practice if you will to request meetings that bring women to the more and i get one more minute now my ok do we can we go for another ten ok thanks in ninety nine and he said no ninety seven december of ninety seven i was with president clinton and first lady hillary clinton in bosnia and when he was meeting with the local politicians and they were these die hard nationalists and the first lady and i were meeting with these fabulous women n who are completely mixed in terms of ethnicity he looked and said secretary albright and sandy berger they looked exhausted and they were so discouraged at the press conference at the end they said this country is not going anywhere anytime soon and we were so energized and it could have been more striking in that moment and you know you're right to talk about the speaker because it has to come from the top i mean the staffs bless their hearts they're not going to push the principals to do this with the same kind of drive as the principals pushing the staff ok six insist that the state department submit lists of qualified women for key posts in the u n peace missions especially the policy making the u n is the worse janice you would love this the u n is the worst it's just the worst in terms of the role of women i mean it just primary jurisdiction over the united nations and i relationship u s relationship with the u s and i have to tell you there is a woman who comes frequently before this committee to brief the subcommittee on peacekeeping operations and then that's jane hall lute wow i'm proud that warmed up and i want to get back to miss this but mr chairman i'd really like to talk with you or your staff following the hearing about the united nations and gender issues  worked at the state department as you know for thirty three decades we were sued time and time again on gender issues we lost almost every lawsuit and i can tell you for a fact that the situation within the u n is far worse it ever was at the state department and the single statistic that i cited earlier is the best one say that they have thirty eight ambassadors one is a woman and she was just appointed that's outrageous and it's not as if they are training individuals to come up behind it's not as if there's a mentoring process or a process of recruitment of good women it's the single authority that has no responsibility on this on these issues and they are they're failing you know i'm glad you know that and i'm going to take advantage of your presence not here today but knowing that you're available i really would like to continue this conversation with all of you by the way and having you here done it i  wonder where we would have been in the ninety's and even into the early part of the new millennium in haiti if there were more haitian women that were involved in the political life of that nation as i think back and how often we were frustrated exasperated as ambassador hunt indicates president clinton and who was with him at the time you know i was sandy berger back and they were exhausted and shaking their heads how many times did we have that experience but i mean i have to tell you i mean i have had strong feelings about this this issue and they need to utilize all of our resources and we are only truly utilizing half of what we have if we don't implicate women into the into these initiatives into these peace processes but this conversation today has really  why i want to mention it in particular when we bring these women from i liked areas to the u s congress and people are walking around snapping pictures you know you may think well that's for them to go home and show their grandchildren or show their children but in fact sometimes that is their main way and ensuring their physical security because they go home and they put that picture on their wall and it's a sign to a lot of bad guys back home don't touch this woman she's got friends in high places and take that please very very seriously and make the time to meet with these women and let them go home with that picture and that's all i'm going to say except to thank you so let me let me make this inquiry of dr kraus you heard me talk about conditions in terms of assistance that would focus on exactly this issue this would require dealing with the u n or any multilateral organization what's your what's your opinion in terms of that kind of a strategy that kind of approach i love the work that the independent women's forum is doing in afghanistan i think having grants available to groups like that is a very positive aspect of that i'm not talking just abo those groups i'm talking about the government of afghanistan i'm talking about they have a state department grant was the reason i mention that ok i guess what i'm saying is as are assisting to the nations that these three heroic women represented here today that there be a component that there are certain criteria when it comes to the participation of women in the political life of those nation states not just simply grants to support their individual programs n g o s and i really don't have i support that but i'm trying to take it a step further what i'm saying is if if if if and i have ghana stan uganda kenya or wherever in the world if they want american assistance there has to be a recognition that the women in those nation states and those societies i recorded a dignified appropriate role in the political life human rights condition if you will to all of our i very definitely do not support i think we as a government really missed out on the benefits of the bully pulpit and on the benefits of the little things like twenty mentioned the pictures that are taken the impact of having congressman visit countries and interact with people interact with governments stating very clear early the expectations that you have just articulated so beautifully i think is tremendous tremendously effective in saying you know we are your partner and these are things that we expect from you i would much prefer to see that kind of subtle and nuanced kind of pressure put on countries rather than saying you will through the u n institute quotas of fifty five not talking about the u n here well even from our government to say you know to get money from us you have to do how we do that all the time do you feel that way about trafficking about john miller and then to the state department that they shouldn't the quotas is what i object to and i have absolutely no objection to saying that if you expect help from the united states here are things principles of human rights that we feel are absolutely essential great you don't get the money or you don't get the money and i'm going to referring to we do that with trafficking and it's been tremendously effective because just for that report comes out the report that comes right here to two you countries are calling the head of the tip office to say you know what can i do to get off tier three or off to or to watch a tremendously important and effective way i think in the ideal scenario we would all agree that we don't need protests but we're far from idea and countries that we represent i would say that we're the opposite side of the spectrum of the idea and i can tell you that enough honest if it was not the international community may women's issue a red line and and emphasizing that but about one government had to have women included in the leadership of the country with both the u s ambassador at that time as well as the you know the head of the u n who played a critical role in this regard we would not have had first we would have a ministry of women's affairs we wouldn't have had women in the peace process and the peace talks we would not have had women included in the mergence you know it did get constitutional lawyer jirga parliamentary elections and you wouldn't see a situation that would be very different from what we had under the taliban simply because the men at that stage were not willing to create the space for women the only thing that created the space for women was the international community leveraging women's position through quotas for lee is coming which means that i want to wait for her when she arrives i'm going to handle i'm going to hand over the gavel to her and because i'm expected to be in boston to see things my hometown boston celtics won last night were head of cleveland three to two and i just want to again  to inform you of that so you don't think i'm totally would but i do want to say she arrives here under the gavel and come down and acknowledge and shake the hands of each of you as i actually did or to catch a flight be done at the expense of competence because i've noted some countries do it for the sake of for example qualifying for aid that if it's if it's given as a condition  it has to be done so let's have figured so many women in that position not necessarily that they will be given the responsibility to do what they can do effectively given the to have action plan i know that this kind of navy and countries sweden norway and liberia and canada do have action plans and with action plans you have policies that can be followed that certain states then you develop benchmarks of what can be done now you have a city you can fly this off and this great talk about bringing women on board five what have we achieved there is no estimate of that nature anywhere so you don't even know how far we've gone and what are the problems why are we not moving forward in implementing t there was something to negotiate over and it went until it was accepted in the constitution today we are represented in a small way but still there is something to walk about and having it in our constitution enshri of representatives and who happens to be a woman and who also happens to be from texas and that's my friend and colleague sheila jackson lee now she just walked in i'm going to hit the gavel and recess for just two or three minutes so i can extend personally to each of you i thank  i'm going to give her an opportunity just to look over some of the material and i'm going to ask if you would consider staying for another ten or fifteen minutes because i want her to hear  what you have to say i know she will benefit from it as as i have today so a short recess and i'm going to get up and you can just take a little bit of a subcommittee on international organization human rights and oversight will resume the hearing on the united nations security council resolution thirteen twenty five recognizing a women's vital roles in achieving peace and security let me that you can be assured that we have no better help at this subcommittee then congressman bill delahunt he certainly works closely with the ranking member and the full committee chairman mr berman and ranking  them all of whom have a very strong commitment to human rights but this particular hearing that focuses on the legislation of congresswoman johnson out of dallas  really comports with the new attitude and spirit that if we're going to be a nation that holds itself out to the world to defend of principles of dignity human rights women's rights which we vigorously debate here in the united states and pride ourselves with making progress on these issues and frankly pride ourselves in the ability to raise these issues with our friends and even fol around the world then i think we must go the extra mile when we view it as being painful to some of the issues that some of our diverse population may be engaged in we have to ask the question of what is the right thing continually serve in this committee by remembering his spirit and commitment to human rights and women's rights and i co chair the congressional children's caucus i have followed the ups and downs of women's rights as relates to the united nations and some years ago joined the effort in norway to work with palestinian women and israeli women on the questions of human rights and peace so i am very much in support of the concept of the importance of women's vital role in peace and security and we can mention any number of conflicts which they have been ignored and thereby the insight that they would give is last let me just quickly start with a let me be forthright and indicate that we or at the end of the day many of us are looking at airlines and airplanes that have no interest  in the vital policy of this particular hearing and would suggest to us that their priority is to close the doors as we try to enter the airport biassed august i expect that we will return we were in a meeting just recently on sudan with the special envoy that has been appointed by china i have called upon the secretary of state to head for sudan and frankly in that particular area not leave until we have a resolution of the opportunity albeit seemingly a difficult challenge for deference to be able to return to their home for southern sudan to be part of a peace agreement that last i have spoken to women who have experienced and expressed the viciousness of rape the violence against their children the  fear and i've also speak spoken to women in sudan who are strong who i know very well could make an important difference in the discussions of peace so let me embassador what do you want to just briefly  express the difficulties with the resolution and the u n security council congresswoman i will be very very brief policymakers like media are very empathetic with the plight of victims in our opinion the best way to help victims is to get women into leadership positions not to focus only on the victims you get women into leadership they will have the empathy to to tend to the victims right now we have tremendous examples of bottom up efforts in every conflict in the world but what we are lacking is the top down and the un security council resolution calls for concerted effort top down at the un and the us as a member state of the un and a member of the security council as it passed that resolution is applied just to change our actions to find innovative ways to ensure that women are fully supported in every stage of the peace process i'll say no more because the real experts are here let me just ask a quick question i am going to ask you to suffer my plight and to answer the questions so that i can get on the record your instruction because i think that is very important and so my sentence to you embassador we know we have the legislation but we know that the problem of course is the un security council resolution what implementation do we need from the un on that are you asking if the un is implementing the security are that really admission the answer is no ok i would guess they're implementing it at fifteen to twenty percent so we have an ambassador who sits on the united nations security council representing the united states we need a champion of that issue that's exactly right and don steinberg was representing the crisis group to the u n so if i could hand this well but i want to get the action item for the united states i am going to ask him but what i'm saying is yes we have an ambassador to the united nations and he or she should be instructed to or she should to aid it on the u n security council that's right ok and therefore they have the ability to interact with the major players of the u n security council and of course the u n assembly and and the u n assembly general yes yes so what we need is a champion through the united states by way of our own foreign policy to get this done to get it moving beyond fifteen percent beyond fifty percent to make this an important foreign policy of the united states you said it let me go to mr walkie if i ha discussion discussions of conflict i believe the participation of women is very important and very briefly the experiences we had in sudan we had the wall from nineteen i think what we saw is that men take to their positions many of them come from the from the military from the revolutionary movements and i witness when they they come to big greet one another sit to model for one session and on the third day they are packing going back and what we hear is that the talks have thought but we thought it's very important to have women there because we have that h because of a small conflict that can be discussed that can be approached and that can be it is sought so the women could be listening to the authorities they can give their weaknesses they can compromise and they  aspect of it is as you indicated that they bring their own conflicts and baggage or problems to that table yes let me thank you mr steinberg and i'm going to go quickly to my other witnesses and i thank you again for your indulgence chairman i want to pick up on the question that you were raising regarding the united nations specifically and i want to use the fact your microphone on that i want to use the fact of your remarkable engagement in the children's caucus to provide a convention regarding children and i know you may not be speaking specifically to that but our foreign policy has failed as it relates to that as well but let me go back to you and i apologize but i do want to make sure that we have a little close on that issue what i wanted to focus on was that sixteen twelve has been remarkably successful it's been successful because it identified a focal point radhika could kumaraswamy as the special representative for children in armed conflict there is no focal point for thirteen twenty five established mechanisms for regular reporting from the secretary general directly to the security council naming countries that are abusing children in armed conflict there is nothing of that equivalent in thirteen twenty five there is a requirement for a watch list and regular reports with measurements in sixteen twelve nothing similar in thirteen twenty five there is absolutely no accountability mechanism and it's as if this were a security in an act of congress that is simply hortatory whereas sixteen twelve and we have done studies of the two has been remarkably successful because there is a budget that's been provided for the special representative for children in armed conflict there's an office it's way up high in the secretariat building you go and you try to identify who is responsible for thirteen twenty five and there's no one there's even a working group of the security council for children in armed conflict nothing for women and for me this is a very significant point the united states will have the presidency of the security council in july we've already heard that the united states plans to talk a lot about women and armed conflict my suggestion would be that congress may wish to talk with the administration about using its presidency of the council in july to put some teeth into thirteen twenty five to provide some accountability mechanisms to provide some degree of measurements and to if nothing else stablish a working group of the council which the united states c france currently chairs the one on children in armed conflict and to require regular reports namea and shaming those countries that are failing to meet their obligations as an excellent constructive roadmap for us and  me announce on the record that i will join with my chairman moved to work on that legislatively and i also think that that is very instructive for us in foreign affairs as we look to a more effective foreign policy through the u n now that we have the chairmanship and i know we haven't had it for a while we expect to see some leaps and bounds obviously we have some constraints if i might say because the administration remains the same for a period of time but i think we're going to take advantage that we are transitioning and that they need to adhere to congress instructions as to what action should be taken at the u n security council let me ask the last three witnesses to answer the question as space most pronounced under the taliban two thousand the bond agreement and the beginning of two thousand and two provided an unprecedented opportunity for women's leadership to emerge and we've had the benefit of seeing and the last six six and a half years what women's leadership might be able to provide in terms of in a larger sense for peace and security in afghanistan and i think overall there are number of things that we can say one as i earlier on women represent a moderating forth and a country that has been radicalized by war and with a country and which religion is increasing be increasingly being politicized and extremism is gaining force women are at the forefront of presenting a moderate are advocating for a moderate interpretation of islam and opening the space for debate and discussion on taboo issues they're also representing a much more inclusive model of leadership and advocating beyond their own interests they've advocated for minority groups for vulnerable groups and they've also demonstrated a pragmatism and being able to work across conflict lines even when there are fundamental differences women have shown enough on a sun that they could put those differences aside and work together where they have a common interest i'm going to ask you for my staff to engage with you as ultimately all returning we can focus our whole section on women in conflict in their country in particular let me move to let me see if i can get mr bigger combi or would you tell me the correct  in conflict resolution and mediation a lot has been talked about and written about how women bear the brunt of war and how they rebuild their own societ what we're talking about what is concerning us most is that is the fact that despite the contributions women make which is recalled night women still get  at all is being done to enhance women's position to do more we're talking about position at high level both within international organizations and in countries we're talking this incited together so your help comes in one putting pressure on the e u and and i say here before and i will repeat this that even the united states government does not have action plan i think what is happening in liberia today is a very good example of the sixty's that women have been given an opportunity because of a woman president will be leads in women and what is going on i not afraid of him and i think your opening remarks is very important that if the us is what it is prides itself of having an example to the world it has to take that lead and ensure that women are appointed at high level positions in different international organizations and also supported in countries thank you thank you very much we look forward to working with the woodrow wilson community if you will and we thank you for your research and your comment on this and i know that i will be engaging let me dr krauss and i don't  i really appreciate the fact that you ended with these informal summaries because i have felt they were just tremendously valuable just very succinctly saying our main message and as a representative of the  minority my main message was while we are gree with the problem we don't always agree with the solution and i urge caution in terms of un treaties because of national sovereignty issues with quota issues and the specific provisions specifically of cedaw which i see is very closely tied to thirteen twenty five as affecting many causing many problems that affect us not just in the legislation but in terms of culture and laws as well let me thank you very much diversity of opinion is welcome and i think you'll find a resolution of this particular the committee in the full committee will take into consideration sovereignty of this nation and others i think the ultimate goal is to make good on what may be a vital component to peace around the world and that is to have a perspective of thought and intellect and analysis  from those who have either been victims of or can see the picture in a larger focus than now only through the narrow lens of a gun so i think this is a wonderful affirmation of the work that we need to do and the persons that we can collaborate with to do the work thank you doctors and bassett or steinberg pacifically for giving us the framework of the ascent of our ambassador to chairmanship she or he but it is he at this time and therefore we will be energized to make this a priority you can be assured and i am delighted to subcommittee chair that focuses on this issue i think the legislation that has already made this a an issue or to get the congress on record of support of the resolution now can be further supported by enhanced legislation that will push action and i do think we should include you know call for action a secretary of state rice who i know  herself could give this consideration and we want to bring it to her attention and give her the sense that there is great support in the congress for her focus and her instruction along with the president's instruction to the ambassador to make this work so thank you all very much and with that the committee is now