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S. HRG. 113–552 

COMBATING VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION 

AGAINST WOMEN: A GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL 

OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS, 

HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY, 

AND GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JUNE 24, 2014 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey, Chairman

BARBARA BOXER, California 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire 

CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut 

TIM KAINE, Virginia 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

BOB CORKER, Tennessee 

JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho 

MARCO RUBIO, Florida 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

JOHN McCAIN, Arizona 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

DANIEL E. O’BRIEN, Staff Director

LESTER E. MUNSON III, Republican Staff Director

——————

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND

ORGANIZATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY,

AND GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES

BARBARA BOXER, California, Chairman

JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware 

TIM KAINE, Virginia 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho 

MARCO RUBIO, Florida 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

(II)

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Baldwin, Hon. Tammy, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin‘ ......................................... 7 

Barker, Gary Ph.D., International Director, Promundo, Washington, DC ......... 23 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 25 

Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator from California ............................................. 1 

Durbin, Hon. Richard J., U.S. Senator From Illinois ........................................... 22 

Heitkamp, Hon. Heidi, U.S. Senator from North Dakota .................................... 8 

Hirono, Hon. Mazie K., U.S. Senator from Hawaii ............................................... 4 

Ibrahim, Hauwa, Senior Partner, Aries Law Firm, Nigeria ................................ 28 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30 

Klobuchar, Hon. Amy, U.S. Senator from Minnesota ........................................... 5 

Markey, Hon. Edward J., U.S. Senator from Massachusetts ............................... 11 

Markham, Susan, Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC ... 16 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 18 

Menendez, Hon. Robert, U.S. Senator from New Jersey ...................................... 3 

Responses of Ambassador Catherine M. Russell to Questions Submitted 

by Senator Robert Menendez ....................................................................... 43 

Responses of Susan Markham to Questions Submitted by Senator Robert 

Menendez ....................................................................................................... 46 

Murray, Hon. Patty, U.S. Senator from Washington ........................................... 8 

O’Neill, Jacqueline Director, Institute for Inclusive Security, Washington, DC 32 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 33 

Paul, Hon. Rand, U.S. Senator from Kentucky ..................................................... 2 

Russell, Hon. Catherine M., Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues, 

U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC ...................................................... 12 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 

Stabenow, Hon. Debbie, U.S. Senator from Michigan .......................................... 6 

Warren, Hon. Elizabeth, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts ................................ 9 

ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

Senator Maria Cantwell (D. WA) ........................................................................... 50 

Senator Susan Collins (R. ME) ............................................................................... 51 

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D. NY) ....................................................... 52 

Esta Soler, President and Founder, Futures Without Violence ........................... 53 

Amanda Klasing, Women’s Rights Researcher, Human Rights Watch ............... 55 

Dr. Nancy Okail, Executive Director, Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy .. 58 

Amnesty International ............................................................................................ 63 

Second Chance Employment Services .................................................................... 68 

International Medical Corps ................................................................................... 70 

Various Human Rights and Humanitarian Organizations (one document, 74 

signees) .................................................................................................................. 71 

(III)

(1) 

COMBATING VIOLENCE AND 

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN: 

A GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION 

TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2014 

U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY, AND GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES, COMMITTEE ON

FOREIGN RELATIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:50 a.m., in room 

SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Barbara Boxer, 

chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Boxer, Menendez, Durbin, Markey, Paul, and 

Risch. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BARBARA BOXER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA 

Senator BOXER. Good morning, everybody. 

Our women Senate colleagues will be coming in as they can. We 

have a whole series of votes starting at 11 o’clock. So we are going 

to do our best to move along, combining the last two panels, et 

cetera. But I certainly want to welcome everyone to today’s hearing. 

I am going to ask Senators to try to do our opening in about 4 

minutes, if we can. Okay? Four minutes for Senators. Then we 

hope our panels will be as brief as they can. 

Welcome, Senator Baldwin. 

I want to welcome everybody to today’s hearing. I am so pleased 

that my ranking member is here and I am so excited that the 

chairman of the full committee is here. It means a lot to me, but 

more importantly, it means a lot to the women of the world. And 

of course, my colleagues, my female Senate colleagues—their voices 

are so powerful. 

We are here today because we all share the same goal: to eliminate violence and discrimination against women everywhere. 

Just last month, two young Indian girls were found dead hanging 

from a tree after they had been raped and strangled. 

In Pakistan, a 25-year-old pregnant woman was stoned to death 

by her family for marrying against their wishes. 

In April, more than 200 Nigerian school girls were abducted from 

their boarding school by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. 

Tragically even in the year 2014, the state of women around the 

world remains precarious. Every day women and girls endure horVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
2 

rific acts of violence in their homes and communities. Women are 

raped, beaten, disfigured by acid, forcibly married, trafficked and 

sold as slaves. They are denied basic rights—such as the opportunity to get an education, to see a doctor, try to make a living outside the home—simply because of their gender. 

But we have an opportunity to take action to help end the 

scourge of violence and discrimination against women, and that is 

why I introduced the International Violence Against Women Act, 

IVAWA, with Senators Menendez, Collins, Kirk, and Shaheen. And 

we have so many supporters on that bill now. And it is why I have 

long supported U.S. ratification of CEDAW, the Convention on the 

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. 

I hope this hearing builds momentum for action in the Senate on 

both IVAWA and CEDAW because we have to do more than make 

our speeches and call for an end to violence. We have to act. 

I am so proud that we will hear from not only my colleagues on 

the committee but some of the great women of the Senate, and I 

thank them for joining us today. 

I am going to turn first, if it okay with Senator Menendez, to my 

ranking member and then to Senator Menendez. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RAND PAUL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM KENTUCKY 

Senator PAUL. Thank you. 

The great Pakistani poet, Parveen Shakir, wrote: ‘‘They insist 

upon evaluating the firefly in the daylight. The children of our age 

have grown clever.’’ 

Malala Yousafzai never met the great Urdu poet, Parveen 

Shakir, as their lives missed each other by several years. Shakir’s 

life was cut short by an auto accident in 1994. But Malala’s courage, vibrancy, and wit would have her smile. It would have made 

her proud that a young woman was standing up so strongly. 

Unfortunately now, because of the actions of extremists in the 

Pakistani Taliban, young women must fight for the right to go to 

school. Malala in her young life insisted on exposing the firefly to 

daylight. Her crime, as seen by the Taliban, is to believe in enlightenment, to believe that out of the darkness, tolerance can glow and 

overcome and overpower ignorance. 

Shakir would have been pleased by Malala’s actions. You see, 

Shakir was highly educated in a pre-Taliban Pakistan with two 

masters degrees and a Ph.D. She taught and published poetry to 

widespread acclaim. 

Malala knew if the Taliban won, there would never be another 

Parveen Shakir to come out of Pakistan. There would never be another Benazir Bhutto. That is why she fought. 

Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Christian who sits on death row for blasphemy. She says it all began when she drew water from a Muslim 

well. As she was filling her bowl with water, the crowd formed 

chanting, ‘‘Death. Death to the Christian.’’ She pleaded for her life. 

She was pelted with stones, punched in the face, and dragged 

through the streets. The local imam finally intervened only to say, 

‘‘If you don’t want to die, convert to Islam.’’ 

The crowd descended on her again, pelting her with sticks and 

stones. Finally, the police stopped the attack and she was grateful, 

3 

only to be arrested by the police for blasphemy. She has been sitting for 5 years on death row in Pakistan. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. taxpayer has forked over billions of dollars 

to the Pakistani Government, which officially condones the persecution of Christians. Many countries that receive U.S. foreign aid 

have laws that officially discriminate against Christians and 

women. Persecution of women is wrong. Persecution of Christians 

is wrong. Persecution of women or Christians in the name of any 

religion is wrong, and our aid money should have conditions upon 

it. We should not give one dime of aid to countries that persecute 

women or Christians. 

Some say our aid projects our power. These same people, though, 

resist any conditions on our aid. Time after time, I have attempted 

to attach restrictions to aid to Egypt, to Pakistan, to the Palestinian Authority, and yet the majority in Congress and in the Senate has resisted every attempt to attach conditions. We should not 

send aid to countries who have official policies that discriminate 

against women and religious liberty. 

We are being taxed to send money to countries that are not only 

intolerant of Christians but openly hostile. Christians are imprisoned and threatened with death for their beliefs. Our job as the 

powerful is to use our might to speak to those who cannot. Whether 

that is the bully pulpit of our foreign aid, our State Department, 

our immigration policy, or our trade policy, we should not be giving 

money without restrictions to people who violate basic human 

rights. 

I am glad to be a part of this, and I think this is a good step 

forward. Thank you, Chair. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you, Senator. 

Mr. Chairman Menendez. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY 

Senator MENENDEZ. Let me thank my friend and colleague, Senator Boxer, for chairing an important hearing with so many distinguished women. 

I was honored to cosponsor with Senator Boxer the International 

Violence Against Women Act that provides critically needed tools 

that the United States could use to address the persistent, horrific 

violence against women around the world. 

But we must also continue to build support for the ratification 

of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. CEDAW has been pending before the Senate 

since November 1980. 

So today we are shining a light on the importance of preventing 

and responding to gender-based violence, and it is clear from just 

reading the morning paper, stories on South Sudan, Iraq, Nigeria, 

Syria, Egypt, India, and Pakistan, that gender-based violence is a 

global epidemic. This is a fight that demands action from every single one of us, women and men alike. When hundreds of girls are 

kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria or women in Afghanistan are 

raped, burned with the acid, or subjected to brutal violence, when 

these horrific acts are committed, it strains the imagination and 

stains the conscience of the global community. 

4 

So everyone in this room, I believe, thanks you, Senator Boxer, 

for being there for every woman in America and around the world 

who needs a champion. And there are many. 

In too many places, women are producing 70 percent of the food, 

but earning only 10 percent of the income and own only 1 percent 

of the land. In too many places, women are banned from participating in national governments, village councils, and peace negotiations. In too many places, girls are prevented from attending 

school, and now a majority of the world’s illiterate people are 

women. In too many places women and girls are attacked as a deliberate and coordinated strategy of armed conflict, and rape is 

used as a weapon of war. 

And in spite of all of that horrific news, there is also some good 

news. In Uganda, a robust women’s movement began a tireless 

campaign to ensure that women were protected in the tenure, ownership, and administration of land. 

In Afghanistan, life expectancy for women has risen in just 10 

years from 44 years of age to 62. Ten years ago almost no girls 

went to school. Today 3 million are in school and make up 40 percent of all primary school enrollments. Nearly 120,000 Afghan girls 

have graduated from high school, 15,000 are enrolled in universities, and nearly 500 women are on university faculties. 

So let me close by saying we know that when women are free of 

gender-based violence and allowed to be educated and safe, we 

know that they will make an extraordinary difference. The world 

needs educated women to take leadership roles, and in my view, 

the world needs more leaders like Senator Boxer and the panelists 

who are here today. And as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Boxer, I look forward to working with 

you to make both initiatives a reality. 

Senator BOXER. Well, I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for 

your commitment and the same with my ranking member. 

I want to say I am looking at an iconic picture here. These incredible women from all over the country—and it makes me very 

happy that you are here. 

I have the order of arrival. I think some of you had to leave by 

10:15. I think you will be okay because it is just a couple minutes 

each to tell a quick story. So we will start in order of arrival. 

Senator Hirono. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII 

Senator HIRONO. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Boxer and Ranking Member Paul, Senator Menendez, for inviting me to speak 

today on such an important matter. 

You will be hearing incredible stories from my colleagues about 

discrimination against women all across our world. This violence 

and discrimination is rooted in sexism and disrespect toward 

women. And I want to share a recent example that demonstrates 

how high this disrespect goes. 

The incident involved a Japanese female representative to the 

Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, which is akin to a State government 

assembly in the United States. This representative, Ms. Iaku 

Shiamura, spoke out on the importance of supporting women who 

5 

need assistance while pregnant or raising children. While she was 

speaking, her male counterparts in an opposing party shouted at 

her with comments such as, hey, idiot, hurry up and get married. 

Can’t you have babies? Although she continued to speak, she 

fought back tears. 

Here is a female parliamentarian who cannot even express on 

the assembly floor her thoughts about empowering women. Blatant 

disrespect and discrimination of women in the form of taunts and 

pigeonholing based on sex role stereotyping provides a breeding 

ground for more direct violence against women in the United 

States and around the world. 

Japan, like many other countries, has a long history as a maledominated society. This type of environment, of course, is not limited to Japan. We see echoes of it here in the United States as well. 

And so, yes, the United States has work to do to end discrimination 

and violence against women. In fact, no country is perfect in this 

sense. But I say that we, as women and as legislators, must continue to lead by example. 

My call to action is to urge that we continue supporting all young 

women in pursuing all of their interests, including politics. After 

all, as the Civil Rights Act, Title IX—by the way, we celebrated the 

42nd anniversary of the passage of Title IX yesterday—and the Violence Against Women Act showed us, changes to law made at the 

de jure or political level can affect the de facto discrimination 

women around the world face. 

Thank you very much. 

Senator BOXER. Senator, thank you, and I know your personal 

story runs deep inside you. And this is an important issue to you, 

and I thank you. 

We will turn to Senator Klobuchar. 

STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much, Chairman Boxer. 

Thank you to the members for holding this hearing. 

I want to focus my remarks on sex trafficking. This horrific crime 

has emerged as the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world, 

behind only trafficking of guns and trafficking of drugs. The average age of girls who become victims is 13, not old enough to drive 

a car, not old enough to go to a high school prom. 

I would like to share with you a brief story about a girl named 

Paloma, who Senator Heitkamp and I met in Mexico when we went 

down there with Cindy McCain on a trip that focused on sex trafficking a few months ago. There were girls at this shelter at Covenant House in Mexico City that were as young as age 11. Paloma 

was new to the house. The other girls were more adjusted. The 

other girls were much, I would say, friendlier and smiling, knowing 

that they had had horrible things happen to them. But Paloma was 

new to the house. And when she introduced herself, she introduced 

herself in English and then she just started to cry and those tears 

just kept coming, rolling down her cheeks. 

We knew that she had suffered unspeakable abuse. We knew she 

was in some place that was safe. But what we did not know was 

what had happened to her, and I think in that way, the fact that 

6 

we did not know made it all the worse. And I remember thinking, 

as I watched her, of meeting a refugee once who had told me that 

he had been through things that were so awful that it would make 

stones cry. That is how we felt when we met with those girls. 

We have a major problem in this world. You see it in Nigeria, 

news today that even more children were abducted. You see it all 

over the world. 

But what I think is important to note is that we also see it in 

our own country and that the major source for girls, that are sex 

trafficked in our own country, is our own country. And one of the 

things we realized, as we met with the Mexican Attorney General 

and the head of the Federal Police, is that we were able to say we 

have our own problem in this country. We want to work with you. 

We want to get ideas from you. We want to partner together on 

these prosecutions. But we have to fix things in our own country. 

Senator Cornyn and I are leading a bill that has widespread bipartisan support called the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking 

Act. A similar version just passed the House last month based on 

our bill, and we just urge this committee, in addition to the work 

that you will be doing, I am sure, on foreign aid and other things, 

to help with this problem around the world and elevate this barbaric crime as we approach foreign policy. I also ask for your support as we move forward with these sex trafficking bills that will 

help prosecution in our own country. 

Thank you very much. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you so much. 

Senator Markey, would you move a little closer to us because you 

are too far away. [Laughter.] 

No. Seriously. 

Next, we will hear from Senator Stabenow. 

STATEMENT OF HON. DEBBIE STABENOW, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MICHIGAN 

Senator STABENOW. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, for 

your incredible leadership and passion on this, and to our chairman of the committee who is doing such an incredible job, Ranking 

Member Paul, and to all of the committee. 

I want to talk for a moment about what is happening in the 

Democratic Republic of Congo. There is a small camp of refugees 

right next to a national park. To get food and firewood, women in 

the camp are forced to go into the forest. But that forest is filled 

with predators, sexual predators and armed groups, who prey on 

these vulnerable women. On an average day, 10 women who travel 

into the forest are raped. Now, think about that. On an average 

day, 10 women going into the forest are raped. These women have 

no choice. If they want to cook food, if they want to stay warm at 

night, they need to go into the forest. And they know when they 

do that they are at very high risk of being attacked. 

In this camp, there is a woman we call Colette. It is her job to 

provide counseling and support to the women who are victims of 

violence. She listens 10 times a day as these women recount their 

traumatic experiences. She guides them to emergency services that 

come at no cost, and she helps them to overcome the stigma and 

discrimination these survivors face not only from society but someVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
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times from their own husbands. Ten times a day Colette hears the 

firsthand story of a woman who is a victim of sexual violence. 

Colette can relate to these women because she is a survivor herself. She was raped and she vividly remembers the fear not just of 

the attack but of her husband as well. 

We can help these women, Madam Chair, as you know so well. 

International groups can provide money for firewood and fuel efficient stoves, but that is not sustainable and it does not solve the 

real problem. 

That is why I am proud to join with you as a cosponsor of the 

International Violence Against Women Act. We need to put the full 

weight of the United States of America, our diplomacy, behind this 

basic human right that no woman in any country should have to 

live every day of their lives in fear of being attacked or raped. 

Thank you. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you so much. 

Senator Baldwin. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TAMMY BALDWIN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WISCONSIN 

Senator BALDWIN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

In April 2011, 24-year-old Nicola Ngwaza was murdered in South 

Africa. Her attackers raped, repeatedly beat, and stabbed her apparently because of her sexual orientation, before dumping her 

body in a drainage ditch. 

Taunts and insults against LGBTI individuals in South Africa 

are common as are hate crimes like sexual assault and other physical attacks, particularly in rural areas. The authority’s inaction 

leads to a greater sense of fear and insecurity for the LGBTI community. 

We often hear of the egregious acts of violence perpetrated 

against women in South Africa. Yet, headlines often forget to mention the violence carried out against members of the lesbian, gay, 

bisexual, transgender, and intersex community. Violence directed 

at individuals perceived to be LGBTI has steadily increased. Yet, 

there has been a consistent failure of police authorities to address 

these acts of targeted violence. 

April 24, 2014 marked the 3-year anniversary of the brutal death 

of Nicola Ngwaza. Three years after her death, no progress has 

been made into the investigation of her murder, and her killer or 

killers remain at large. 

As we hear today’s testimony, we must be resolved to take action 

so that there are no longer stories such as Nicola’s. This will take 

great effort from the international community and the Senate can 

and should contribute its part by calling up and passing bills such 

as your own, Madam Chairwoman, International Violence Against 

Women Act, and Senator Markey’s International Human Rights 

Defense Act of 2014, both of which I am proud to join as cosponsor. 

These bills to help advance the cause of human rights, equality, 

and justice around the world are vital. 

Thank you. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you so much. 

It is my privilege to call on Senator Heitkamp. 

8 

STATEMENT OF HON. HEIDI HEITKAMP, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA 

Senator HEITKAMP. Thank you for this wonderful event. You cannot see it, Senator, but there is a lineup outside of young women 

waiting to hear our voices and waiting to hear your voices because 

they, along with you and everyone on this panel, knows that we 

have leadership responsibilities and leadership obligations. 

The story that I want to tell is not about a victim. It is about 

an activist that we met in Mexico City. Her name is Nellie 

Montelegra, and she singlehandedly has built out a program for 

prosecuting violence against women, prosecuting human trafficking, prosecuting crimes against children. And she has, along 

with her supporters, made a huge difference for the children and 

the victims of Mexico. 

We stand shoulder to shoulder with all of those advocates. And 

I know in very many corners, there are advocates all across the 

country, all across the world who stand with us. But they expect 

one thing from us. They expect leadership. And a lot of us who confront this problem at home, confront the discussion at home as we 

move into a period of isolationism, a lot of us get asked why should 

we care. And we know those countries that are most violent 

against their women and children, who are most impoverished are 

the least stable, present the greatest national security risk. And so 

we have to address this problem not only from a human rights 

standpoint but from a national security standpoint because if we 

stabilize the situation, if we are able to provide for women and children in every corner of the world, we will have a much more stable, 

much more gracious, and I think, a much better world. 

And so thank you for your leadership, and thank you for the 

leadership of everyone at this table. 

Senator BOXER. Senator, thank you so much for putting this into 

a larger context. 

And now we will hear from Senator Murray and our cleanup batter will be Senator Warren. 

And I just want to say how proud I am, Senator Murray. I know 

with your leadership responsibilities, as well as all your committees, you made time for this, and it says a lot to us. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF HON. PATTY MURRAY, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON 

Senator MURRAY. Well, thank you very much, Senator Boxer and 

Senator Paul. It is so important that you convened this important 

issue. It is something very near and dear to me and to all of us, 

and I appreciate the opportunity to be here with so many of our 

female colleagues. 

I joined forces with many of the fellow Senators before you to 

pass the Violence Against Women Act last spring, and I said then 

it was one of the privileges of my career to ensure that VAWA included strong protections for tribal women, the LGBT community, 

and immigrants, among others. And I stand by those words today. 

I could not be more proud of the work we have done to advocate 

on behalf of women wherever they live. 

But there is much more to be done especially in countries where 

women are still fighting for basic human rights. So I am pleased 

9 

to be here today to address gender-based violence and girls’ education, and I want to do so by highlighting the story of Lahli, a 15- 

year-old girl from India. Her story was brought to my attention by 

the International Center for Research on Women. 

She was raised as the only daughter among four children and 

had to fight for food, among other resources in the family. Her own 

well-being was placed behind that of her brothers, despite the fact 

that she may very well care for her own family one day. When 

Lahli’s mom tried to enroll her daughter in school, she was met 

with opposition from the elders of her community. They did not believe that the family had enough to pay for both Lahli’s education 

and her dowry. 

Eventually Lahli and her mother gave up the fight, and her 

dowry was deemed far more important. She was married at the 

young age of 15 and certainly was not ready to accept the responsibilities of matrimony. Ultimately, her marriage ended any potential opportunity to better herself and her family. 

That is the fate that awaits millions of other girls in India. Girls 

like Lahli perpetuate a cycle that is difficult to break. 

But there is a solution: invest in quality basic education. Investing in girls’ education will improve the welfare of millions of people 

worldwide and will improve health outcomes because educated 

women are more likely to invest in their families and communities, 

and they are less likely to die in pregnancy and child birth, and 

their children are less likely to die in infancy. It will reduce child 

marriage because educated girls and women are more likely to 

marry later in life when they have developed the strength and maturity to accept the role with pride. And it will reduce violence because educated women are less likely to be victims of sexual or 

gender-based violence and are less likely to tolerate it among their 

families. 

It is timely that on Thursday the Global Partnership for Education will hold its second replenishment pledging conference in 

Brussels. The partnership was actually established in 2002 in order 

to coordinate international resources in pursuit of a lofty goal: to 

deliver a good quality education to all girls and boys, prioritizing 

the poorest and most vulnerable. The multilateral conference will 

hear from nonprofit partners and governments alike about the need 

to invest in quality basic education. 

It is my hope that the international community will heed this 

call so that girls like Lahli and so many like her can pursue an 

education, escape the trappings of poverty, and fulfill her full potential. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator BOXER. Senator, thank you. 

In conclusion, we hear from the Honorable Elizabeth Warren. 

STATEMENT OF HON. ELIZABETH WARREN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS 

Senator WARREN. Thank you very much. Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Paul, members of the committee, thank you for this 

opportunity to discuss the importance of combating violence and 

discrimination against women worldwide. 

10 

I want to celebrate an inspiring woman who confronted these 

challenges head on from the age of 13 until her untimely death 

from a heart attack at the age of 48 in 2011. 

Sonia Pierre was one of 12 children. She was of Haitian descent, 

raised in a Dominican migrant worker camp. From her early teens, 

Sonia dedicated her efforts toward protecting the human rights of 

Dominicans of Haitian descent, particularly women and children 

who are the most vulnerable targets of discrimination. She founded 

the Movement of Dominican-Haitian Women to combat genderbased discrimination and anti-Haitian prejudice and to improve 

women’s health care services and education programs. She faced 

continuous physical attacks, imprisonment, and threats to her life. 

She was first arrested at 13 years old while marching for humane 

labor conditions for Haitian Dominicans working on sugar cane 

plantations, and she faced constant danger and attacks for the rest 

of her life. But she kept fighting back. 

Sonia’s actions in the face of these threats is an inspiration to 

people everywhere, but particularly to thousands of my constituents in Massachusetts, which is home to the third-largest Haitian 

population in the United States. Nearly 3 years after her death, 

Sonia’s legacy of promoting the human rights of women and children of Haitian ancestry lives on. 

Around the world too many women and girls confront the challenges similar to those faced by Sonia. Too many women and girls 

are victims of gender-based violence and discrimination as weapons 

of intimidation, coercion, and power. The United States must be 

committed to protecting the rights of women and girls committed 

to combating violence and discrimination against women across the 

globe. 

Congress should pass the International Violence Against Women 

Act, a bill that you introduced, Chairman Boxer, and that I am 

proud to cosponsor with many of my colleagues, in order to 

strengthen existing strategies for reducing gender-based violence 

and discrimination worldwide. Investing in women and girls means 

investing in a future that is more prosperous, secure, just, and 

peaceful for all. And it is time for Congress to carry this fight forward. The leadership should be ours. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

Senator BOXER. Senator, thank you. 

And to my colleagues, it meant so much to me and, more importantly, to the girls and women of the world that you took time to 

come here today. So we will allow you to get back to your busy 

schedules with our deepest thanks. Thank you very much. 

And we are going to combine our panels into one. As they come 

up, I want to hear from Senator Markey and Senator Risch, if they 

have opening statements. 

Senator RISCH. I yield back. 

Senator BOXER. So then I would ask panels two and three to 

come forward. There are six of you, but we need you to come as 

quickly as you can, given the schedule we have. 

The Honorable Catherine Russell, Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues at the State Department; Ms. Susan Markham, 

Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s EmpowerVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
11 

ment, U.S. Agency for International Development. And I want to 

say these women work on these issues night and day. 

It is actually five panelists. The next three are Mr. Gary Barker, 

Ph.D., international director, Promundo, Washington, DC; Ms. Jacqueline O’Neill, director, Institute for Inclusive Security, Washington, DC; and Ms. Hauwa Ibrahim, senior partner, Aries Law 

Firm, Nigeria. 

So we will ask you all to take your seats. 

Senator MARKEY. Madam Chair? 

Senator BOXER. Yes. 

Senator MARKEY. Maybe I could be recognized for 1 minute. 

Senator BOXER. Please. Yes, Senator Markey. 

STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS 

Senator MARKEY. I thank you, Senator Boxer, for convening this 

critically important hearing, and I thank all of my colleagues for 

your thoughtful and inspiring testimony. I think that was an incredible opening to this hearing. 

According to Amnesty International, violence against women and 

girls is one of the most pervasive human rights abuses and a global 

epidemic. Almost daily we read of another woman raped, another 

woman murdered by an abusive spouse, another group of girls trafficked. In far too many countries, nothing is done to the perpetrators of these horrific crimes. 

Violence and discrimination against women and girls is not just 

a human rights issue or a moral issue. It is a matter of national 

security. It should come as no surprise that the countries where 

women are safe, the countries where women are equal, are the 

countries with the greatest stability, both economically and politically. Where women are safe, laws are enforced. Where women are 

safe, girls are educated. Where women and girls are safe, women 

are productive, able to contribute to their families and to their communities. 

That is why our foreign policy must focus laser-like on ending violence and discrimination against women and girls. That is why I 

am a cosponsor of your legislation and why I also introduced the 

International Human Rights Defense Act. We need to be sure that 

women’s rights and LGBT rights remain a focus of our foreign policy until all women and girls around the world are free and safe 

and equal. We need to be sure that the positions our next witnesses, Ambassador Russell and Ms. Markham, hold are made permanent in this administration and in every administration until 

this epidemic of violence and discrimination ends. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. 

So here is how we are going to go. I am going to introduce the 

first two speakers who are our government panel, and then we will 

take a breath. Then I will introduce our next three speakers and 

then when you are all done, we will ask questions to whomever we 

choose. 

So our first witness today is the Ambassador at Large for Global 

Women’s Issues at the State Department, Catherine Russell. Prior 

to assuming this post, Ambassador Russell served as Deputy AsVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
12 

sistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Second Lady, Dr. Jill 

Biden. While at the White House, Ambassador Russell coordinated 

the development of the administration’s Strategy to Prevent and 

Respond to Gender-based Violence Globally, which was released in 

2012. She previously served as the senior adviser to the Senate 

Foreign Relations Committee on international women’s issues. 

And I want to also welcome her brilliant staffer, Ann Norris, who 

learned everything she needed to learn in my office. [Laughter.] 

We are very proud to see you here, Ann. 

I was pleased to chair Ambassador Russell’s nomination hearing 

last July. So I am very happy to welcome her back. 

And we will then hear from Ms. Susan Markham, the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the 

U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. Ms. Markham 

has a long history of working on women’s political empowerment, 

both in the United States and globally. And most recently she 

served as the Director of Women’s Political Participation at the National Democratic Institute, NDI, where she worked to support the 

meaningful participation of women around the world in civic and 

political life. 

So thank you both for your dedicated service, and we certainly 

look forward to your testimony. We will begin with you, the Honorable Catherine Russell. 

STATEMENT OF HON. CATHERINE M. RUSSELL, AMBASSADOR 

AT LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES, U.S. DEPARTMENT 

OF STATE, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ambassador RUSSELL. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chairman Boxer, Senator Markey, Senator Risch, for being here. 

And I just have to say, Senator Boxer, I have never seen so many 

amazing women lined up here today. I thought that was a very 

powerful statement, and I really appreciate that very much. 

Before I begin, I would like to thank the subcommittee under 

Chairman Boxer’s leadership for the tremendous work you have 

done to profile these issues. 

I would also like to recognize my counterpart, Susan Markham, 

at USAID, as well as the organizations who are here today who are 

really indispensable partners in this work. 

I want to speak today about three tools that the United States 

has to address and respond to the continuing epidemic of genderbased violence. 

Senator Boxer, I would also like to take a moment to thank you 

for your support of U.S. ratification of CEDAW, which would be an 

important additional tool to help urge countries to meaningfully address gender-based violence, as well as other issues. 

The first of our tools is diplomacy. One of my highest priorities 

as Ambassador is to ensure that efforts to address and end genderbased violence are a key aspect of U.S. diplomatic engagement. 

Gender-based violence is on the agenda of every trip I take, from 

encouraging the Afghan Government to fully implement the Elimination of Violence Against Women law, to meeting with survivors 

of acid attacks in Pakistan. Like you, I am motivated by the deeply 

personal stories I have heard during my travel: the young Nepalese 

girl whose family did not value her enough to send her to school, 

13 

the young Sri Lankan woman who told me of the brutal gang rape 

she suffered during police interrogation, or the Afghan school girl 

whose father wanted to sell her rather than send her to school. 

This issue is a top priority for Secretary Kerry as well. Our 

voices joined with yours must ring loud and clear. This violence is 

unacceptable. 

The second powerful tool we employ in this fight is our policy efforts. This past December, the Department launched three interagency committees to implement the administration’s strategy that 

you mentioned to prevent and respond to gender-based violence 

globally. To help address impunity, the United States recently suspended entry into our country of perpetrators, including government officials at any level, who are responsible for war crimes, 

crimes against humanity, or other serious violations of human 

rights, including those involving rape, sexual assault, and sexual 

slavery. We are encouraging other governments to take similar action to send a strong message to those who engage in these crimes. 

This brings me to our third and final tool: programming to match 

our policy priorities and our diplomatic engagement. I would like 

to take a moment to highlight a number of recent efforts announced by Secretary Kerry. 

First, we will soon release a new funding opportunity to build on 

our $10 million Safe from the Start initiative which aims to protect 

women and girls from the very onset in humanitarian emergencies. 

Secondly, we recently announced a doubling of the original commitment in the Gender-Based Violence Emergency Response and 

Protection Initiative to $1 million, which provides immediate financial assistance to women and girls who have experienced severe violence or are in danger of imminent harm. 

And as announced at the recent global summit in London, the 

United States is launching a new Accountability Initiative to help 

us build the capacity of partner governments to bring perpetrators 

to justice in innovative ways such as through the use of mobile 

courts. 

Yet, we know that a tremendous amount of work remains to be 

done. In particular, we need to change mindsets so that violence 

against women and girls can never be dismissed as cultural or inevitable. It is criminal. 

The statistics regarding gender-based violence are sobering, and 

yet somehow when I meet with women and girls who have faced 

this kind of violence, I continue to feel hopeful. The young Afghan 

girl I mentioned earlier, whose father wanted to sell her, was part 

of a larger group of girls. When I asked them what they wanted 

to be when they grow up, their answers were no different than the 

ones my daughter or her friends might give, lawyer, doctor, teacher. One wanted to be President of Afghanistan. 

These girls embody promise and possibility. We know that empowering women and girls and protecting them from violence will 

lead to stronger families, communities, and countries. I look forward to working with you to make this a reality. 

Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ambassador Russell follows:] 

14 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CATHERINE M. RUSSELL

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, and thank you, Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Paul, and distinguished members of the committee for inviting me to testify today. I am happy 

to be here to discuss the importance of preventing and responding to gender-based 

violence and to highlight U.S. and international tools and strategies to combat violence and discrimination against women and girls globally. Before I begin, I’d like 

to thank this subcommittee, under Chairman Boxer’s leadership, for the tremendous 

work you have done to raise the profile of these issues and to ensure they receive 

the attention they deserve. I’d also like to recognize my counterpart, Susan Markham, at USAID, as well as the NGOs in the room today who are instrumental partners in this work. 

Gender-based violence, which we have seen splashed across the front pages of 

newspapers most recently in India, Nigeria, Pakistan—as well as here in the United 

States—is a global epidemic. It crosses every social and economic class, ethnicity, 

race, religion, and education level, and transcends international borders. It takes 

the form of intimate partner violence, early and forced marriages, sexual violence, 

acid attacks, and traditional harmful practices such as female genital mutilation/ 

cutting. And it is widespread. Worldwide, an estimated one in three women will be 

physically or sexually abused in her lifetime, and one in five will experience rape 

or attempted rape. In some places, especially in conflict zones, these statistics are 

even higher. This violence doesn’t only affect women and girls, but it threatens 

entire communities, precludes economic growth, and fuels cycles of violence and 

conflict. 

My job as Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s issues is to ensure that the 

rights and empowerment of women and girls are integrated into all aspects of U.S. 

foreign policy, to reiterate that peace, security, prosperity, and economic growth cannot be achieved without the full participation of women, and to ensure that men 

and boys are engaged as important partners in this effort. I believe firmly that gender-based violence is inextricably related to women’s status and that we must 

address the issue in a comprehensive manner, including through women’s economic 

empowerment and girls’ education. I want to speak today to some of the tools we 

have at our disposal to address and respond to gender-based violence, and to the 

reasons why this topic is so critically important to the work of this administration. 

TOOLS

A. Diplomacy 

One of my highest priorities as Ambassador is to ensure that efforts to end gender-based violence are a key aspect of U.S. diplomatic engagement. That is why I 

make sure that gender-based violence is on the agenda of every trip I take and 

nearly every meeting I hold. These efforts range from encouraging the Afghan Government to fully implement the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) 

law to meeting with survivors of acid attacks in Pakistan. Like you, I am motivated 

by the deeply personal stories I have heard during my travel—from the young Nepalese girl whose family did not value her enough to send her to school, the Sri 

Lankan young woman who told me of a brutal gang rape during a police interrogation, and the Afghan schoolgirl whose father wanted to sell her rather than send 

her to school. We cannot rest until the violence stops. 

I know that this is a priority for Secretary Kerry as well. Two weeks ago, he traveled to the United Kingdom to attend the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence 

in Conflict, where he powerfully stated that ‘‘Gender-based violence, anywhere, is 

a threat to peace, security, and dignity everywhere.’’ He also recently visited an 

obstetric fistula clinic at St. Joseph’s hospital in the Democratic Republic of the 

Congo, where some of the world’s worst atrocities against women and girls are committed. Just as this is a personal priority for me, it is a priority for him. Our voices, 

joined with yours and with those of the survivors of gender-based violence, must 

ring loud and clear: it is unacceptable. 

B. Policy 

The second powerful tool we employ in this fight is through our policy efforts. 

While serving as Chief of Staff to Dr. Jill Biden, I spearheaded an interagency effort 

to develop the ‘‘U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence 

Globally,’’ which the administration released in August 2012. This past December, 

the Department launched three interagency committees to implement the strategy 

and the accompanying Executive order from President Obama. The committees are 

currently working to identify focus countries, ensure that U.S programming to preVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
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vent and respond to gender-based violence is based on best practices, and implement 

intensive monitoring and evaluation programs for our initiatives. This work also 

complements and builds upon the December 2012 ‘‘U.S National Action Plan on 

Women, Peace and Security,’’ which aims to protect women and advance their participation in conflict, post-conflict, and relief and recovery settings. The National 

Action Plan also focuses specifically on addressing gender-based violence in countries characterized by war, violence, and insecurity. 

To help address impunity, Secretary Kerry recently issued a ‘‘challenge’’ to other 

governments to restrict travel by those responsible for crimes against humanity, war 

crimes, and other serious violations of human rights, including those involving sexual violence. The United States has suspended entry into the United States of perpetrators—including government officials, at any level—of war crimes, crimes 

against humanity, or other serious violations of human rights, including those 

involving rape, sexual assault and sexual slavery. We are hoping that other governments around the world take similar action, and we encourage you to raise this 

issue with them in your bilateral discussions. 

All of these efforts are a direct extension of the broad gender policy initiatives 

undertaken by the Obama administration, which has brought an unprecedented 

focus to bear on promoting gender equality in service of our national security and 

foreign policy objectives. Advancing the status of women and girls is woven into our 

National Security Strategy, the QDDR, our Department of State Foreign Affairs 

Manual, and in policy guidance recently released by Secretary Kerry directing all 

bureaus and embassies to continue to further integrate gender equality in all 

aspects of our diplomacy, including preventing and responding to sexual violence in 

peacetime and conflict. 

C. Programming 

This brings to me to my third and final tool: programming to match our policy 

priorities and our diplomatic engagement. We recognize that prevention and 

response to gender-based violence is a critical part of our work, and I’d like to take 

a moment to highlight a number of recent efforts announced by Secretary Kerry. 

These efforts build upon long-standing work being done by the Department and 

USAID on this issue. 

First, we will soon release a new funding opportunity to build on our $10 million 

Safe from the Start Initiative. Safe from the Start is a joint State-USAID effort that 

focuses on getting the right systems in place at the very onset of a conflict or crisis. 

The United States has already provided support to the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross 

(ICRC) to help hire specialized staff and to develop innovative methods to protect 

women and girls at the onset of emergencies worldwide. We know that women and 

girls are most at risk in these settings, and we must make every effort to ensure 

their safety. 

Second, we recently announced a doubling of the original commitment to the Gender-Based Violence Emergency Response and Protection Initiative to $1 million. 

This initiative addresses the immediate security needs of survivors of severe genderbased violence, as well as individuals under credible threat of imminent attack due 

to their gender. Individuals can quickly receive U.S. assistance for up to 6 months, 

reaching a total of $5,000. These flexible funds can be used to address short-term 

emergency needs such as payment of legal and medical bills, relocation, security, 

and dependent support. This fund provides a mechanism to respond immediately to 

the horrible stories of violence we read about so often in the news. In addition, it 

also provides targeted training to implement gender-based violence laws and support activism to address cultural attitudes and norms around gender-based violence. 

Third, the United States just committed an additional $2.5 million to expand our 

partnerships with countries undertaking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Violence Against Children Surveys along with the global publicprivate partnership Together for Girls. Together for Girls, which the United States 

Government helped to launch, helps countries undertake comprehensive surveys to 

document the magnitude, nature, and impact of physical, emotional and sexual violence against children with a specific focus on girls. Based on this data, Together 

for Girls helps implement evidence-based coordinated policy and program actions to 

address issues identified through the surveys, including legal and policy reforms, 

improved services for children who have experienced violence, and prevention 

programs. 

And finally, as announced at the Global summit in London, the United States is 

launching a new Accountability Initiative to help survivors of gender-based violence 

access the justice they deserve. This effort will help us build the capacity of partner 

governments to prosecute sexual violence crimes and bring perpetrators to justice 

16 

through specialized judicial mechanisms in countries ravaged by war, violence, and 

insecurity. As you know, many countries facing serious sexual violence crimes often 

lack functioning judicial systems. This initiative is designed to send a strong message to would-be perpetrators that they will be held accountable for their crimes. 

In addition to these recent announcements, the Department of State runs a variety of programs focused on preventing and responding to gender-based violence. For 

example, through our Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement 

Affairs, we are currently funding women’s protective shelters in Afghanistan. One 

of our largest programs, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) 

specifically addresses the link between gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS. My 

own office has administered a series of small grants over the past few years to support civil society organizations working in their communities to address genderbased violence. I would be happy to share more information about these efforts. 

Yet we know that a tremendous amount of work remains to be done. We need 

additional research and data on best practices to end this global scourge, and we 

need to know more about how best to engage men and boys, who often serve as leaders in the community. Finally, we need to change mindsets so that it is clear to 

everyone that violence against women and girls can never be dismissed as cultural 

or inevitable—it is criminal. 

Gender-based violence is a collective problem that demands a collective solution— 

it requires not only the expertise of private, public, and nonprofit sectors, but the 

commitment of the global community. The United States will continue to be a vocal 

advocate on this issue in the multilateral space, including at the Commission on the 

Status of Women and the U.N. General Assembly. 

The statistics regarding gender-based violence are sobering, and the challenge and 

needs are great. And yet, somehow when I meet with women and girls who have 

faced this kind of violence, I walk away feeling reenergized. The young Afghan girl 

I mentioned earlier in my testimony—whose father wanted to sell her—was part of 

a larger group of girls I spoke with. When I asked them what they wanted to be 

when they grew up, their answers were no different than the ones my own daughter 

might give: lawyer, doctor, teacher. One girl said she wanted to be President. 

These girls embody promise and possibility. We know that empowering women 

and girls and protecting them from violence will lead to stronger families, communities, and countries. I look forward to working with you to make this a reality. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. 

And we will turn to Ms. Susan Markham. 

STATEMENT OF SUSAN MARKHAM, SENIOR COORDINATOR 

FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT, U.S. 

AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ms. MARKHAM. Thank you. Good morning, Chairwoman Boxer, 

Senators Durbin and Risch, and other distinguished members of 

the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before 

you today regarding the critical issue of gender-based violence. 

And, Senator Boxer, I must say we appreciate your years of work 

on behalf of women and girls around the world. 

Under the leadership of President Obama, the United States has 

put gender equality and the advancement of women and girls at 

the forefront of U.S. foreign policy, and preventing and responding 

to gender-based violence is a cornerstone of the administration’s 

commitment to advancing gender equality. 

Gender-based violence cuts across ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, class, religion, educational level, and even international borders. The majority of survivors are women and girls, but men and 

boys are also subjected to this crime. An estimated one in three 

women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise 

abused in her lifetime with intimate partner violence as the most 

common form of violence experienced by women globally. 

17 

Gender-based violence can also take the form of harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation or cutting, socalled honor killings, bride abductions, and early enforced marriage. 

For over two decades, USAID has partnered with nongovernmental, public international, and faith-based organizations, as well 

as host government institutions, to address the issue of genderbased violence. USAID programs focus on four strategies to combat 

gender-based violence. 

First, we address the root causes of violence. 

Next, we increase the awareness of the scope and impact of gender-based violence. 

We also try to work to improve services for the survivors of violence. 

And finally, we support legal frameworks to strengthen prevention efforts. 

In the last 2 years, USAID has reinvigorated its work on gender 

equality and women’s empowerment, launching a number of complementary policies and strategies to bolster our efforts, building on 

our expertise in development assistance to maximize the impact of 

agency efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. 

All USAID gender-based violence programs seek to reach the 

most vulnerable populations, including women, children, persons 

with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons, 

and the elderly who often face extraordinary levels of violence and 

abuse. 

Poverty, social norms, and the imbalance of power between men 

and women are often drivers of gender-based violence. So in South 

Africa, USAID is supporting the scale-up of the Intervention with 

Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity project, called IMAGE, 

and findings from this work indicate that economic and social empowerment of women can contribute to reductions in intimate partner violence. 

USAID recognizes that protection of vulnerable populations must 

be addressed in both public and private spaces. So USAID’s Safe 

Schools pilot program worked to reduce gender-based violence in 

schools in Ghana and Malawi for 30,000 girls and boys. By the end 

of the project, teachers and students exhibited changed attitudes 

about gender-based violence. 

The most effective approaches to providing services to survivors 

are often holistic. So in 2013, USAID’s Victim of Torture program 

in the Democratic Republic of Congo reached more than 42,000 

beneficiaries to provide medical treatment, psychological and social 

support, legal assistance, awareness raising, and economic 

strengthening. 

Strengthening laws and policies is also critical in combating gender-based violence. In 2013, USAID provided funding to support a 

state-of-the-art training in the Middle East and North Africa that 

expanded the number and regional diversity of experts with the capacity to investigate these kinds of crimes. 

Looking ahead, USAID will continue to refine tools and interventions to effectively address gender-based violence. The agency is actively involved in finding ways to adopt appropriate technology that 

will provide innovative, effective, and cost-effective solutions while 

18 

also encouraging stronger evaluations of activities that address 

gender-based violence. 

As mentioned by my colleague, Ambassador Russell, the Safe 

from the Start initiative is a joint USAID and State Department 

effort to build capacity of the humanitarian system to better meet 

the women and girls in emergency situations. 

USAID will continue to address gender-based violence through 

partnerships with host communities, civil society organizations, 

universities, donor organizations, foundations, and private companies. 

Chairman Boxer, thank you once again for the opportunity to 

speak to this vitally important issue. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Markham follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SUSAN MARKHAM

Good afternoon, Chairwoman Boxer, Ranking Member Paul, and distinguished 

members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you 

today regarding the critical issue of gender-based violence. It is an honor to be 

joined by my colleague from the State Department and by others working to effect 

change on this issue. 

Under the leadership of President Obama, the United States has put gender 

equality and the advancement of women and girls at the forefront of the three pillars of U.S. foreign policy—diplomacy, development, and defense. This is embodied 

in the President’s National Security Strategy, the Presidential Policy Directive on 

Global Development, and the 2010 U.S. Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development 

Review. Women’s empowerment is critical to USAID’s core mission of ending 

extreme poverty and promoting resilient, democratic societies while advancing our 

security and prosperity and addressing pressing health and education challenges. 

Preventing and responding to gender-based violence is a cornerstone of the administration’s commitment to advancing gender equality. Such violence is often a direct 

result of existing inequalities and hinders the ability of individuals to fully participate in and contribute to their families and communities—economically, politically, 

and socially. 

The United States Congress, and this committee in particular, has long championed efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. As a result of these 

tireless efforts, Congress has been a key driver in responding to gender-based violence in the context of early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, 

and region-specific violence against women, from Latin America and the Caribbean 

to the Middle East and North Africa. Congress has played a critical role in highlighting the bipartisan commitment of the United States to preventing and responding to gender-based violence, and has helped strengthen ongoing U.S. efforts. 

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND STATISTICS

The United States has a strong interest in preventing and responding to genderbased violence around the world. Regardless of the form that gender-based violence 

takes, it is a human rights abuse, a public health challenge, and a barrier to civic, 

social, political, and economic participation. It leads to many negative consequences, 

including adverse physical and mental health outcomes, limited access to education, 

increased costs relating to medical and legal services, lost household productivity, 

and reduced income. 

Gender-based violence cuts across ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, class, religion, education level, and international borders. The majority of survivors are 

women and girls, but men and boys are also subjected to this crime. An estimated 

one in three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise 

abused in her lifetime, with intimate partner violence as the most common form of 

violence experienced by women globally. An appalling 38 percent of all murders of 

women globally were reported being committed by their partners. Gender-based violence can also take the form of harmful traditional practices, such as female genital 

mutilation/cutting, so-called ‘‘honor killings,’’ bride abductions, and early and forced 

marriage. 

An estimated 10 million girls are married every year before they reach 18. Early 

and forced marriage is a practice that increases a girl’s risk of school dropout, 

maternal mortality, short birth intervals, and vulnerability to other forms of genderbased violence, among other adverse outcomes. Children are particularly vulnerable 

19 

to violence, especially sexual abuse. According to the United Nations Population 

Fund, almost 50 percent of all sexual assaults worldwide are against girls 15 and 

younger. In 2002, 150 million girls and 73 million boys under the age of 18 years 

experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence. Sexual violence is also often used as a tactic of war during conflicts. In the context of humanitarian crises and emergencies, civilian women and children are often the most vulnerable to exploitation, violence, and abuse because of their gender, age, and status 

in society. Women with a disability are two to three times more likely to suffer 

physical and sexual abuse than women with no disability. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, 

and transgender persons also face heightened risk. Sexual violence can also directly 

lead to HIV infection. Gender-based violence can foster the spread of HIV by limiting one’s ability to negotiate safe sexual practices, disclose HIV status, and access 

services due to fear of reprisal. 

Gender-based violence undermines the safety, dignity, health, and human rights 

of survivors as well as the public health, economic stability, and security of nations. 

The United Nations Secretary General’s 2005 in-depth study on violence against 

women found that when calculated across 13 countries (Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, Finland, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States) the cost amounted to USD50 billion 

per year. 

USAID WORK ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

For over two decades, USAID has partnered with nongovernmental organizations, 

public international organizations, faith-based organizations, and host government 

institutions to increase awareness of the scope and impact of gender-based violence, 

improve services for survivors of violence, and strengthen prevention efforts. 

Over the last 2 years, USAID has reinvigorated and strengthened its work on gender equality and women’s empowerment, launching a number of new complementary policies and strategies to bolster and leverage our efforts. These policies include 

USAID’s ‘‘Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy,’’ which provides guidance to our staff in Washington and in the field on pursuing more effective, evidence-based investments in gender equality and female empowerment and incorporating these efforts into our core development programming. The ‘‘U.S. National 

Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security’’ focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment in crisis and conflict-affected countries to promote the rights and 

well-being of women and girls and to foster peaceful, resilient communities that can 

cope with adversity and pursue development gains. The ‘‘U.S. Strategy to Prevent 

and Respond to Gender-Based Violence’’ established a government-wide approach 

that identifies, coordinates, integrates, and leverages current efforts and resources. 

The ‘‘U.S. Government Action Plan on Children in Adversity’’ is the first-ever wholeof-government strategic guidance on international assistance for children in adversity integrating assistance and measuring results to ensure that children ages 

0–18 not only survive, but thrive. The ‘‘USAID Vision for Action: Ending Child 

Marriage and Addressing the Needs of Married Adolescents’’ highlights the need for 

development efforts to combat early and forced marriage and focus on regions, countries, and communities where interventions to prevent and respond to early and 

forced marriage are most needed and most likely to achieve results. The updated 

President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) gender strategy prioritizes 

gender-based violence prevention activities as well as the provision of post genderbased violence care, and also seeks to address the harmful norms that perpetuate 

such violence. And finally, the ‘‘USAID Counter-Trafficking in Persons Policy’’ reinvigorates and focuses Agency efforts to combat trafficking on concrete, measurable 

principles and objectives. 

USAID’s aspiration is simple—to use this framework to build on its global reach 

and expertise in development and humanitarian assistance to maximize the impact 

of Agency efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. 

USAID supports many programs that prevent and respond to gender-based violence around the world. All USAID gender-based violence programs seek to reach 

the most vulnerable populations—including women, children, persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons and the elderly—who often 

face extraordinary levels of violence and abuse. Sadly, women and children often 

fare the worst in war, and gender-based violence rates often increase in complex crises around the world. Gender-based violence threatens to undermine the rights and 

security of women and girls—and even boys and men. It also threatens to stall or 

even reverse the important development gains made in many of the countries in 

which USAID works. 

20 

Since 2013, USAID has funded 25 humanitarian assistance programs designed to 

prevent and/or respond to gender-based violence in countries affected by conflict and 

natural disaster, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, South Sudan, 

and the Central African Republic. 

PROGRAMMATIC SUCCESSES

USAID programs address the root causes of violence, improve prevention and protection services, respond to the health and economic needs of those affected by gender-based violence, and support legal frameworks that mitigate gender-based violence. Within these programs, USAID works to engage women and girls—and to 

engage men and boys as advocates to both prevent and respond to sexual harassment and assault. 

Addressing the root causes of violence 

Poverty, social norms, and the imbalance of power between men and women are 

often drivers of gender-based violence. In South Africa, USAID is supporting the 

scale-up of the Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity 

(IMAGE) Project. The IMAGE project sought to find evidence about the scope of 

women’s empowerment and the mechanisms underlying the significant reduction in 

intimate partner violence documented by the cluster-randomized trial in rural South 

Africa. The findings, both qualitative and quantitative, indicate that economic and 

social empowerment of women can contribute to reductions in intimate partner violence. The IMAGE intervention combined a microfinance program with participatory 

training on understanding HIV infection, gender norms, domestic violence, and sexuality. After 2 years, the risk of past-year physical or sexual violence by an intimate 

partner was reduced by more than half. 

Improve prevention and protection services 

USAID recognizes that protection of vulnerable populations must be addressed in 

both public and private spaces. USAID’s Safe Schools Pilot Program worked to 

reduce school-related gender-based violence in selected schools in Ghana and 

Malawi and to support prevention programs and support services for 30,000 girls 

and boys. By the end of the project, teachers and students exhibited changed attitudes about gender-based violence. The program was scaled up and launched in the 

Dominican Republic, Senegal, Yemen, Tajikistan, and the Democratic Republic of 

Congo. In addition, USAID has formed a partnership with the Peace Corps to use 

the Safe Schools materials and train volunteers on how to create a safe classroom 

environment, integrate gender-equitable practices into teaching and classroom management, and promote primary school reading. 

Gender-based violence is a long-standing problem in Haiti where the risk of violence and sexual exploitation is exacerbated by poverty, poor security, and a lack 

of awareness. USAID provided direct support and technical assistance to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs for a campaign against rape. In addition, USAID is training 

Haitian health care providers at 31 facilities on how to identify and manage genderbased violence cases and provide referrals to social and legal services. Since 2012, 

more than 177,000 people have been surveyed and sensitized on gender-based violence, including 485 staff, over 118,000 patients, and over 58,500 community members living in high-risk areas. 

Because the crisis in Syria is fundamentally a failure of protection of the civilian 

population, our overall humanitarian response strategy within Syria is informed by 

a protection analysis and includes measures to promote the protection of the population—including prevention of, and response to, gender-based violence. Our five 

protection priorities to address the crisis in Syria are gender and protection 

mainstreaming, gender-based violence prevention and response, child protection, 

psychosocial support, and humanitarian access. Additionally, specific activities 

include improving access to urgent clinical care and support, establishment of safe 

healing and learning spaces, basic needs provision, livelihoods opportunities and 

emergency shelters, and, within refugee hosting communities, efforts to prevent 

early marriage, human trafficking, child labor and domestic violence. 

Responding to health and economic needs 

Effective approaches to providing services to survivors are most often holistic in 

nature. This includes improving access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive 

health services and mental health care for survivors of sexual violence so that they 

can rebuild their lives on their own terms, and physically and emotionally move beyond the point in time when they were victims of assault. In 2013, USAID’s Victims 

of Torture program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the geographical 

areas of North and South Kivu reached more than 42,000 beneficiaries to provide 

21 

medical treatment, psychological and social support, legal assistance, awareness 

raising and economic strengthening. An impact evaluation of the mental health components of this program documented positive results for survivors participating in 

therapy, validating research tools that can be applied to similar programs in lowresource settings. For example, in this case we learned that women who participated 

in group cognitive processing therapy experienced a stronger reduction of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms than women who received individual counseling. 

Having these tools helps us design tailored approaches that are effective for supporting survivors in different contexts. 

Through the Gender Equity Program in Pakistan, USAID is providing social and 

economic rehabilitation of gender-based violence survivors by supporting 12 shelters 

and helplines across Pakistan. Through this model, thousands of gender-based violence survivors in Pakistan are receiving legal services, psychosocial counseling, 

technical and vocational skills training, and economic rehabilitation services for the 

first time. The successful implementation of this model has attracted government 

shelters to adopt a similar approach. The Gender Equity Program has also developed a strategy on combating gender-based violence which will work as a guideline 

for the provincial governments on addressing gender-based violence issues. The 

strategy has already been endorsed by three provincial governments. 

Supporting legal frameworks to mitigate gender-based violence 

This type of engagement with local governments to strengthen laws and policies 

is critical in combating gender-based violence. Even as we strengthen our support 

for survivors, we know that impunity for conflict-related sexual violence and other 

forms of gender-based violence is a major challenge for prevention. In 2013, USAID 

provided funding to support a state-of-the art training with Justice Rapid Response 

on the investigation of gender-based violence under international law. The training 

expanded the number and regional diversity of experts available to serve on a dedicated roster of gender-based violence experts that provides the international community with a rapidly deployable, standby capacity to investigate these crimes. The 

training focused on Middle East and North Africa regional experts and Arabicspeaking interpreters. We anticipate that some of these participants will serve on 

commissions of inquiry looking into allegations of human rights violations and 

abuses in the Middle East and North Africa region. 

USAID in El Salvador is working with the judicial system, the Attorney General’s 

Office, the national police, and the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of 

Women to ensure domestic and sexual violence survivors receiving humane, efficient, and professional treatments. The project also focuses on training police officers and judicial staff across the country to protect and respond to the needs of 

survivors who are often forgotten. With USAID’s support, 16 Victims Assistance 

Centers have opened, and there will be a total of 31 centers by 2018. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Looking ahead, USAID will continue to refine tools and interventions to effectively 

address gender-based violence. USAID is developing sector-specific toolkits that will 

help project design teams, project managers, and program officers integrate genderbased violence prevention and response efforts into USAID programs. USAID will 

continue to provide resources and training to staff to assist them with integrating 

gender-based violence issues into their work. 

The Agency is actively involved in finding ways to adopt appropriate technology 

that provides innovative, effective, and cost-efficient solutions to address genderbased violence. USAID cosponsored a ‘‘Gender-Based Violence and Innovative Technologies: Opportunities, Challenges and Ethical Considerations’’ event to bring 

together select researchers and programmers from the United States and abroad 

who are implementing innovative technologies to address gender-based violence in 

a range of settings. 

USAID and many other Agencies, donors and foundations have invested in programs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence; however, there have not 

been enough rigorous evaluations of these programs to investigate what aspects of 

programs addressing gender-based violence are successful and what may need 

adjustment. USAID will continue to encourage stronger evaluations of activities that 

address gender-based violence. 

USAID has invested in numerous research studies focused on understanding the 

gaps in preventing and responding to gender-based violence. In India, USAID is 

supporting research on the effectiveness of conditional cash transfers on delaying 

marriage among girls until the age of 18. In Uganda, USAID is investing in research to evaluate the effects of innovative scalable behavior change communication 

programs to prevent gender-based violence, which focus on working with adolescents 

22 

and community gatekeepers to promote and establish gender equitable norms, as 

well as engaging fathers to promote positive parenting roles and to reduce conflict 

between men and their wives. In Pakistan, research on the scope and scale of violence against women has resulted in more targeted, regionally specific interventions 

and ultimately more effective service provision for survivors. In Afghanistan, USAID 

recently finalized a study on engaging men in ending gender-based violence and is 

funding the upcoming Demographic and Health Survey, which will generate detailed 

data on gender-based violence trends. The Afghan Government will use the survey 

to develop programs to address gender-based violence issues. 

In September 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry announced the Safe from the 

Start initiative, a joint USAID and State Department effort to build capacity of the 

humanitarian system for timely, quality and effective prevention and response. 

Agency resources are being used to support strategic investments to close knowledge 

and capacity gaps, enhance accountability to ensure gender-based violence prevention and response are a priority from the onset of an emergency, and build on the 

significant humanitarian funding State and USAID provide to prevention and response efforts each year. Safe from the Start also represents the U.S. Government’s 

commitments to the Call to Action, a closely related, multicountry effort launched 

by the United Kingdom last year which also aims to drive change across the humanitarian system to better meet the needs of women and girls in emergencies. The 

United States is proud to lead the Call to Action in 2014. 

Gender-based violence is a pervasive problem around the globe, and in order to 

effectively combat gender-based violence, USAID needs to work with a wide network 

of partners. Therefore, USAID will continue to address gender-based violence 

through partnerships with host governments, civil society organizations, universities, donor organizations, foundations and private companies. 

Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Paul, thank you once again for the opportunity to speak to this vitally important issue. I welcome your continued advice and 

counsel and would be pleased to take any questions you may have. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you so much. 

And before we turn to our other panelists, I would offer my good 

friend, Senator Durbin, who is the assistant majority leader, his 5 

minutes, if he would like to take it. 

STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD J. DURBIN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS 

Senator DURBIN. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for your 

leadership on this issue, which has been acknowledged. I am sorry 

I missed our colleagues who were here on the first panel to dramatize the importance of this issue. 

I struggle to understand why the United States has failed to pass 

the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination 

Against Women. But I understand politics. We have also failed to 

pass a convention dealing with disabilities, though we lead the 

world in our treatment and opportunity for people with disabilities. 

Time and again, I find the Senate is just unresponsive to taking 

formal action to acknowledge our responsibility and our leadership 

on issues. 

But this is one that we just cannot ignore. What is happening to 

women across the world is well known and documented. I can recall years ago attending a speech by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton who had returned from a trip overseas, and she said something 

I have never forgotten. She said if I visit a developing country and 

I can only ask one question to determine what the future might be 

in that country, my question is how do you treat your women. That 

question and that answer will be a better insight into the opportunity for progress than almost any other question. 

I have been over to the Democratic Republic of Congo several 

times. Sadly, it may hold the distinction of being the rape capital 

23 

of the world because rape is used as a weapon of war there. And 

I visited the camps and met with many of the victims. It is an outrage. 

And you wonder if there is anything that we in the West can do. 

Well, a number of us learned that what was fueling, in many instances, the economy in that part of the world was certain minerals 

that were being mined by slaves and sold. And so on a bipartisan 

basis, we tracked down those minerals and we came to learn sadly 

that many of us are carrying those minerals around with us every 

day. 

So we established standards for accountability and transparency 

about where these minerals are being mined and under what circumstances and asked the companies that sell us the cell phones, 

as well as many other pieces of technology, to accept a corporate 

responsibility. Some said they would do it. Others said we will sue 

you, and so we are stuck in court on that basic question. 

There are so many avenues here for us to follow and proceed 

down in terms of dealing with this issue, but bringing it to the attention of the public, as my friend and great writer, Nicholas 

Kristof, does almost on a weekly basis, is part of it. 

Another part of it is to establish policies that are consistent with 

our goals as America’s policies. One of them is the discouragement 

of child marriage, which was a provision that I added to a bill and 

ultimately became part of our law. 

So I thank you for this hearing. I thank each of you for the work 

that you are doing. The United States has more that we can do, 

and on behalf of those who have no voice in the world, let us give 

them a voice here in Congress. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator BOXER. Senator, thank you, and again, as Senator Murray was here and you were here, it just shows, I think, a real commitment to this issue on the part of the leadership. And I thank 

you. 

So our first witness from what was going to be our last panel— 

but we will get all the statements in and then we will have a 

chance to question everyone—is Dr. Gary Barker, the international 

director of Promundo, a Brazilian-based NGO that works internationally to engage men and boys to promote gender equality and 

reduce violence against women. Dr. Barker has conducted extensive research on men, violence, gender, and health. He served as 

a consultant to numerous organizations, including the World Bank, 

the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development 

Program, and USAID. 

Welcome, sir. Please proceed. 

STATEMENT OF GARY BARKER, PH.D., INTERNATIONAL 

DIRECTOR, PROMUNDO, WASHINGTON, DC 

Dr. BARKER. Thanks. Senator Boxer and other Senators, thank 

you for holding the event on this very important issue. I am 

thrilled to be able to talk about ways that we can engage men as 

part of the solution. 

We heard before that these are not just a handful of horrific acts. 

We know from data, that we have globally, that 30 percent of the 

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world’s women will experience some form of violence from a man 

in their lifetime, most of the time men who they know. 

What we do not say often enough is that we also know something 

about which men are using that violence, who are the men who are 

actually carrying this out, whether it is the men in India that you 

referenced at the beginning or men who carry out violence against 

a female partner in their home. We know something about them. 

In about 30,000 interviews that we have carried out in nearly 20 

countries in a study carried out by Promundo and the International 

Center for Research on Women and the U.N., we have looked at 

which men are more likely to use violence. 

First off, men who have seen their father carry this violence out 

against their mother are nearly two and a half times more likely 

to carry it out. 

Men themselves who experience violence in the home or in the 

school, in the community are more likely to carry it out. 

And what we see again and again and again is that about twothirds of those men believe that other men around them think this 

violence is okay. In fact, they think nothing will happen to them 

if they use it. That does not mean they are worried about being arrested necessarily. They are not worried about being arrested. They 

are also not worried that the other men around them will say anything about it. 

So we have something that is not just the behavior of a few bad 

men. We have something that is really ingrained in the silence of 

other men, how our systems do not react to it, how family members, as well as courts and teachers and everyone around, is watching this violence but not speaking out. 

We talked a lot about the symptoms or rather the symptoms of 

this violence and the results of it, but we do not do enough to talk 

about these causes. And we think that if we look at the causes, we 

can figure out how we get to solutions. 

Let me tell you first about a man in Brazil who we have worked 

with, Marcio. He is in a favela in Rio de Janiero. He is in a setting 

where he is one of those 40 percent of men who saw this violence 

growing up. He saw his father use this violence. And he said once 

he remembered distinctly his father came home, he was drunk, hit 

his mother. She was swollen. Her eye was swollen for a week. And 

he said my father’s version of manhood was just that, having lots 

of women, drinking, parties. I never had presents. I never had him 

around. I had violence from him. 

He talked about how it would be quite easy for him to repeat 

that violence. His anger about it, his inability to know other ways 

to interact with female partners. He came into Promundo’s program and he was able to talk with other men about how to overcome similar situations. To look at Marcio now playing with his 

young son is to believe that change is possible. And our challenge 

now is how do we multiply that a million times over. 

We start with the assumption that there is not enough prison 

space to lock up every man who has used violence. If we are talking about a behavior that a third of the world’s men have carried 

out, we do not have enough prison space. Clearly we need to hold 

men accountable, but we need to think about what prevention looks 

25 

like, how to take it seriously, and how to scale it up. And let me 

give you about five examples of how we think you can do that. 

One is school-based work. We have spent a huge amount in the 

last years to get girls in school. Now we have to do this tremendous 

work of making schools safe for girls. We have done teacher training, including online teacher training, that we can scale up smallscale stuff to train 3,000 teachers in a year to reach up to 250,000 

students. For a small amount, we can take the infrastructure we 

have invested in and see ways to scale up prevention. 

Second, bystander intervention. We get men to follow the simple 

logic: you see something, say something. Speak out when you see 

your peers doing it, whether that is at the household level, your 

neighborhood, your neighbor. Groups like Breakthrough, Futures 

Without Violence, CARE, Promundo, and many others are doing 

this to say it is up to all of us men who are abhorred by this violence to speak out in the acts we see every day. You see your friend 

drunk harassing a girl, say something. You hear a politician 

harassing a Japanese politician, why do men not also speak out on 

that? 

Third, we use the health sector. We know that a fifth of women 

will experience violence during pregnancy. We have spent a lot 

with the U.S. Government and others to make birthing safer for 

women. How do we also use that? We are working across four countries to train health care workers to reach men with activities 

around how to reduce couple conflict, how to be supportive fathers, 

and how to reduce violence from the very beginning. Again, we 

build on the services that are already there. 

Fourth and finally, women’s economic empowerment. The United 

States has invested a huge amount in microcredit programs, reaching up to 125 million women worldwide. We found that if we do a 

little bit of adding men to those processes, we can scale up the impact of that in terms of empowering women around autonomy and 

also reducing gender-based violence. 

The point with all these is that with a small amount, $5 to $10, 

we can add on and scale up and build on the infrastructure we 

have already done to take prevention seriously. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Barker follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF GARY BARKER, PH.D. 

Honorable Chairwoman Boxer, Ranking Member Paul, and other members of the 

subcommittee, thank you for holding this hearing on such an important topic. 

We all know by now the global extent of violence against women: An estimated 

30 percent of women worldwide will experience physical or sexual violence from a 

man at some point in their lives, the majority of those husbands or partners or men 

they know. We have a growing body of evidence on the impact of this violence on 

women’s and girls’ lives, in terms of personal, political, economic, and health 

consequences. What we too often neglect is that we also know which men are more 

likely to use violence against women and girls. 

From household surveys we and partners have carried out in more than 16 countries globally, we know that men who see their fathers or another man use violence 

are up to 2.5 times more likely to use violence against their wives or female partners. Men who themselves experienced violence in school, the home or the community are nearly twice as likely to use violence against women and girls. Men who 

witness and experience various kinds of violence growing up, and those who believe 

they are entitled to women’s bodies are more likely to rape. Men who are displaced 

by conflict, men who are economically stressed, men who binge drink or drink excesVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
26 

sively, and men who think their peers support their use of violence against women 

are also more likely to use violence against women. 

The bottom line is that men who use violence against women have often witnessed or experienced violence in childhood, or have been socialized into believing 

that they are entitled to having power over women and girls. And they often have 

male peers who support them in their use of violence. This is not the behavior of 

a few bad men. It is part of the norms and attitudes about what it means to be 

men and women, and it is about how we raise our sons and daughters to see this 

violence as acceptable or not. The good news is that with this information, we know 

how to break cycles of violence against women. 

Let me offer an example. I want to tell you about Marcio, a man from the favela 

of Santa Marta in Rio de Janeiro. Santa Marta is a setting where gang violence and 

violent response from the police against gangs has been chronic, where a third of 

parents use violence against children, where nearly half of children have witnessed 

a homicide, where men and women struggle to find adequate work and to provide 

for their families, and where a third of households have no adult man present at 

all. Marcio said this: ‘‘Once my father came home, he was drunk. He hit my mother. 

Her eye was swollen for a week. His version of manhood was just that: having lots 

of women, drinking, parties. I never had presents from my father, or him playing 

with me. I had this: violence and him abandoning us.’’ 

In group sessions that Promundo organized, Marcio told us about the pain and 

anger he felt in repeatedly witnessing that violence. He also talked about how he 

managed to avoid repeating the violence he saw around him: by talking about that 

pain, participating in a campaign and outreach activities that Promundo carried out 

in his community, and by finding other men like him working to break the violence. 

He told us: ‘‘Sharing my story with other men, I was able to overcome what I saw 

growing up. And I could help other men get over the violence they had seen too.’’ 

Marcio is now a devoted father to a young son. To watch him interact with his son 

is to affirm that cycles of violence can be broken, to see that even men who witnessed this violence and experienced it can become supportive and nonviolent 

fathers and partners. 

We start with the assumption that men who have used violence must be held 

accountable for that violence. But we also know that there is no way to lock up or 

imprison a third of the world’s men. We must have functioning justice sectors, and 

committed individuals within them. Many of our partner organizations, such as 

Vital Voices and others, train members of the police and justice sectors, to take 

services and justice for victims seriously. But we must equally forcefully say this: 

we know that prevention works. We know how to end cycles of violence. And it’s 

time to scale up the approaches that work. It’s time for a bold vision to take what 

we know works to change attitudes, and to work with men and boys to break the 

cycle of violence against women and girls. 

Let me offer a few examples: 

First, we can train teachers and youth workers in carrying out school-based prevention models. In Brazil, we use online continuing education courses to instruct 

teachers in how to carry out group education with students about questioning the 

norms that underpin gender-based violence and gender inequality overall. In a year, 

we can reach more than 3,000 teachers, who in turn can reach more 250,000 students with a curriculum called Program H that calls young men and women to question the norms and attitudes that support inequality and violence. We have seen, 

as have other organizations doing this work, that such activities carried out with 

young people has the potential to shape and influence life-long attitudes about manhood and womanhood. 

Second, we can scale up what we call bystander intervention programs, in which 

men, like Marcio and many others, can be trained how to speak out when they see 

other men condone or use violence. Via sports-based programming, on the soccer 

fields, and in locker rooms, Promundo, Futures without Violence, Sonke Gender Justice, Breakthrough and other organizations engage men and women in questioning 

the violence they see around them and appropriate ways to intervene. This is in 

effect the idea that if ‘‘you see something, you say something.’’ You see your friend 

getting drunk and inappropriately harassing a young woman, and you speak out or 

offer help. You hear a man using violence, you speak out, you offer help, you make 

it known that it is not an acceptable behavior. You hear a public official use language condoning violence, you question it. 

Third, we use the health sector to reach men, in particular via prenatal visits. 

We’ve seen that violence by men against women often goes up during pregnancy. 

In some of the settings we work in, up to one in five women experiences violence 

during pregnancy. We’re working with partners and with the health sector, in a 

model called MenCare+, in Rwanda, Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia to use preVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
27 

natal visits as a place to both screen for violence and to recruit expectant fathers 

to prevent it. Specifically, we train health workers to carry out sessions with men 

on how to communicate better with their wives and partners, how to raise their children in nonviolent ways, and how to better understand their roles in maternal and 

child health. With this program, men are becoming more involved and less violent 

fathers. The expanded reach of prenatal services for women in countries around the 

world, gives us a tremendous opportunity and entry point; around 60–80 percent of 

fathers across countries are attending at least one prenatal appointment with their 

partners or wives. This interaction with the health system provides a key opportunity to engage men in doing their share of caregiving and to be involved fathers, 

as well as to reduce violence. And we use infrastructure that already exists. 

Fourth, we can use the power and reach of economic empowerment programs for 

women. Microcredit and microfinance programs for women have been one of the success stories of international assistance and development. An estimated 125 million 

women are reached globally with these programs, many of those programs supported by USAID and other international donors. These programs work to give 

women income security and autonomy. At the same time some studies show that 

couple conflict can increase as women are economically empowered via such programs. Thus, we have seen that such programs can work even better if we use them 

as a space to recruit men via community outreach and group education with messages about couple cooperation and communication. When we have done this, we see 

that income gains are improved—that is women have even more income—couples 

cooperate more and couple conflict is reduced. 

And finally, we’re using the workplace as a space to reach men. To give an example, in Brazil we work with Petrobras, the national petroleum company, to encourage workers not to engage in sexual exploitation by having sex or paying for sex 

with underage girls. Of course this is against the law and men should not be doing 

so in first place, but we have carried out surveys in Brazil finding that 14 percent 

of men in the cities surveyed reported having paid for sex with a girl under the age 

of 18. 

We know that this sexual exploitation often happens around spaces where lots of 

men are away from home. Petrobras and other employers ship men to various parts 

of the country to build new natural gas and petroleum installations, and too often, 

sexual exploitation comes along with that. Of course, Petrobras and others work 

with the Brazilian Government to hold accountable those who traffic young girls, 

but we think that’s not enough. We carry out campaigns and training with human 

resources staff to promote discussions with the workers about why men pay for sex 

with underage girls. We work to create a culture in the workplace in which men 

question each other about this. At the beginning of these sessions, we’ll hear men 

say things like this: ‘‘I paid for the party and drinks and she paid me back.’’ At the 

end of the sessions, their peers will question this, speak out against it, and take 

those messages into bars and other spaces. In other words, we stop the demand 

before it happens while collaborating with the legal authorities to hold perpetrators 

accountable. 

These approaches work. We have been able to evaluate impact, as partners have 

in many other settings, and we see changes in attitudes, and reductions in violence. 

Our challenge has been taking them to scale and sustaining them. Funding is too 

often inconsistent and short-term. 

So what can the U.S. Government do? Consistent funding is necessary and 

IVAWA would be a key step toward that. In addition, the U.S. Government can look 

across its existing women’s empowerment programs—economic empowerment; agriculture development; land title and legal rights initiatives; maternal, newborn, and 

child health programs; HIV prevention, workplace interventions and others—and 

find ways to add approaches for reaching men to its existing initiatives. We can 

build on the existing infrastructure and existing large-scale programs to engage men 

with these approaches. In no way should this prevention work with men take away 

from the existing work to empower women economically and socially. It can and 

should be part of integrated prevention efforts. We have consistently found that if 

we use this existing infrastructure—in schools, the health sector, the workplace or 

sports-based programming—we can reach men and boys for as little as $5–$10 per 

beneficiary in some settings. 

We stand by colleagues around the world who call for ending the impunity that 

surrounds men’s use of violence against women and girls. But punishing perpetrators is not enough. Two weeks ago in London, the U.S. took a lead with others in 

calling for ending impunity around sexual violence in conflict. But that call and too 

many others like it do not go far enough in saying what we know works to prevent 

violence against women, including sexual violence, from happening in the first place. 

It is not enough only to hold accountable the perpetrators. We need to reach all the 

28 

boys and men, like Marcio, who witness and experience violence, to break cycles of 

violence—to create a generation of boys and men who do not use nor believe in 

using violence of any kind against women and girls. And we know how to do it. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. 

Women cannot do this alone. We cannot. And I would say without the men in the Senate—and Barbara Mikulski, before a lot of 

women came here, used to call them the Sir Galahads of the Senate. This is a partnership, full-out. So thank you for all your work. 

So now we are going to turn to Hauwa Ibrahim. She is the senior 

partner at the Aries Law Firm in Nigeria. Throughout her career, 

Ms. Ibrahim has devoted herself to advancing women’s rights in 

Nigeria and is best known for her work defending women in northern Nigeria’s sharia courts. She was also recently selected to serve 

on the Presidental commission established by Nigerian President 

Goodluck Jonathan to investigate the abduction of more than 200 

girls from a boarding school in northern Nigeria. 

We are very honored to have you here. Please proceed. 

STATEMENT OF HAUWA IBRAHIM, SENIOR 

PARTNER, ARIES LAW FIRM, NIGERIA 

Ms. IBRAHIM. Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and thank you, 

other members. My gratitude knows no bounds. This is an honor 

and this is a privilege to speak about combating violence against 

women as a responsibility of our common humanity beyond just 

women. 

I was born and raised in northern Nigeria. I became educated by 

accident, and I became a lawyer by accident. I guess I went to 

teach at Harvard for 3 years by accident. But it is some of this accident that I have written about in a longer testimony. And if you 

do not mind, let me speak from my heart. 

Senator BOXER. Yes. We will put the testimony in the record. 

Please proceed. 

Ms. IBRAHIM. So I will just speak about a few issues from my 

heart to you. 

I may murder English because English is my fifth language, and 

I never learnt it in the classroom. 

I have been a lawyer for 20 years, like you mentioned. Over 20 

years, I have practiced law in sharia courts. I have been defending 

women sentenced to death by stoning in northern Nigeria, and as 

of recent, I just came back 2 days ago from Nigeria and I will speak 

a little bit about what is happening with this Boko Haram and the 

Chibok girls. 

So on the 6th of May, the President appointed me by name. I am 

the only member appointed by name to serve on this fact finding 

committee. And the past 6 weeks have been eventful. A lot of what 

we have found out and what we have written—it is in written testimony and it is classified. So I am not going to speak about it. But 

I will speak about to a few things that are public. 

I came back with a heavy heart, but I am glad to be here to address the issue of gender-based violence, which is what this is all 

about, the kidnapping of the Chibok girls. Let me say that with the 

full cooperation of the Nigerian community, we were able to find 

out a lot of information as to where those girls may be. 

29 

But let me just put out some figures out here. There has been 

a kidnapping. Over 300 girls have been kidnapped; 119 girls escaped from their kidnappers; 217 are still remaining, and in the 

past couple of weeks, 57 have also escaped. Sadly, we have 219 

girls still unaccounted for and they are with their captors living in 

a semi-hell. 

Our committee met with grieving parents of the escaped girls of 

Chibok. There is a dire situation of security in northern Nigeria, 

especially in the City of Borno. Boko Haram seems to be waxing 

stronger. They are a threat to peace and security in our region and 

beyond. 

But why Boko Haram, and why is this kidnapping happening 

even today? There are three reasons I want to mention here. Boko 

Haram—so far we have found out they have been very smart and 

they are well organized. They have more sophisticated arms. And 

with respect, I want to say that this is something that is heavy in 

my heart. The arms that are out there are so unnecessary—they 

create more violence, especially are gender-based violence. There 

are issues that have to do with motivation on both sides, first, on 

the Boko Haram, on the other side, Nigerian security that hopefully, in a bigger picture, we will address in the future. 

But let me say that one of the challenges we found on the ground 

is the issue of food security. We also realize that there is a forest 

called Sambisa and there is a mountain called Mandara Mountains 

where the Boko Haram will be camping. And hopefully, with the 

assistance of the United States and the international community, 

we will be able to surmount some of these difficulties of finding 

where they are and slowing them down, especially creating in a 

bigger picture of global peace and security. 

What is the way forward? I believe engaging them and collaboration could be one way. Getting back our girls is something that is 

very dear to our hearts. It is more of a collective interest. It is beyond north versus south or Christian versus Muslim. It is beyond 

our greed and our corruption. It is more about engaging women, especially mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and aunts. Today is day 

number 71 that the girls have been with their kidnappers. It is 1 

day too many. 

Let me speak briefly about the United States as a city on a hill 

and a beacon of hope for all of us. I was in Jordan last week, and 

what I have to show for this is a broken ankle. But we had 17 

countries that were represented, Madam Chair, and for all the 17 

countries that have spoken, the United States was mentioned and 

was mentioned positively. So may I say that you are, indeed, a beacon of hope and a city on the hill. And I hope that that is taken 

seriously. 

The passing of CEDAW and the IVAWA, if that is done, will lead 

to a partnership in our work and it will make our workload easier. 

It will help in our economic activities. 

My time is up and I want to conclude by saying that northern 

Nigeria has been hidden in isolation, sometimes self-imposed. The 

land is bleeding. There is much distrust. Recently, the parents of 

the Chibok girls have been suffering with high blood pressure. Two 

of them have died in the past few weeks. No to violence against 

women is what I stand here to say, and no to all form of control 

30 

of a woman’s body. But we hope that we have partners in you and 

friends as we believe that we will rise again, and I believe that the 

sun will shine again. And with your help and commitment, we will 

get the girls back. 

A powerful force unites us in this room, irrespective of the sex 

or color of our skin or our religious affiliation or our creed or our 

privileges. My hope today, and it will so remain, is that there is 

a powerful force that binds us and that is our common humanity. 

That is the dignity of all of us. And with that, we hope with the 

passage of CEDAW and IVAWA in the United States, the world 

will be a better place for generations to come. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Ibrahim follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HAUWA IBRAHIM

I want to begin with my sincere appreciation for this invitation to testify before 

your subcommittee this morning not only because of the recent tragedies in northern Nigeria but also because of my longstanding commitment to combating discrimination and gender based violence on an International scale. My presence here is 

meaningful not simply because I have the opportunity to speak on behalf of the 

‘‘Chibok girls’’—but more so, because serendipity and age are the only two things 

that distinguish me from the 219 still missing girls. I was born and lived most of 

my life in Gombe state in northern Nigeria. I was a child in a poor family and 

raised in a Muslim home. As was the local practice, I was given away in marriage 

at age 10. Being the ‘‘stubborn’’ child in my family, at 11 I ran away from home 

to a boarding school for girls. My family told me not to come back but I was determined to get an education. I eventually became a lawyer—the first women from my 

state and returned there to practice law. However, since the courts in northern 

Nigeria use sharia law women were not allowed to speak, so I had to pass notes 

to male lawyers to represent my clients, including women sentenced to death by 

stoning for adultery. Most of my cases were pro bono helping women and children 

gain justice primarily through informal negotiations outside the courts. Today I am 

a visiting lecturer at Harvard University but all this happened accidentally. The life 

situation of the kidnapped schoolgirls, who are most likely enduring living hell, is 

one for which my empathy and concern is boundless. 

On April 14, Boko Haram came to Chibok with the intention of kidnapping the 

girls. To distract attention from this nefarious purpose, the Boko Haram first 

attacked the village and a nearby military base. They arrived at the school at 11:45 

at night, the girls were all in bed and the men had official uniforms and trucks and 

buses. They told the girls that Boko Haram was about to attack the school and they 

should leave with them. Then they proceeded to steal all the food and kitchen equipment and burn down the school. This is how Boko Haram operates. As has been 

reported, there were 330 girls boarding at the school in order to take the national 

exam for higher education; 219 of these girls are still missing; 130 boys also took 

exams at the school but did not board overnight. I am serving on the President’s 

Commission along with government representatives and representatives of other 

nongovernmental organizations. I was one of the few people appointed by name as 

a result of my experience of living and working in the North, helping women in the 

community to secure justice under shariah law. 

In order to fully understand the situation of the kidnapping of the Chibok girls, 

it is important to note the vast differences between the southern and northern parts 

of Nigeria. The South has benefited from development and local resources with 

infrastructure and modernization, including a greater public role for women. Girls 

receive an education and while challenges persist, the opportunities for a girl growing up in the South are vastly different than in the North. Though I don’t have 

exact figures, I can report that the majority of boys in the North receive an education but the proportion of girls in school is precious few. Girls are expected to 

marry young and as I was told at home, ‘‘The heaven for a woman is at your husband’s feet.’’ That is partly why these girls and their families were so determined 

to take the national exam which is the gateway to higher education. And that is 

also why I have been determined to use the opportunities and education that I have 

received to help the people in the region, particularly women and girls. 

Violence against these girls, against women, and our children, is simply unacceptable. I am glad and hopeful, as the United States has not left the issue unresolved. 

31 

Both in response to our own hearts and minds that refuse to accept violence against 

the kidnapped girls and to the mourning and grief of the girls’ families and friends, 

the United States has continued and will hopefully continue to fight against violence 

and for peace. Especially the comprehensive leadership by the United States to support efforts to build the capacity of local women’s and other human rights organizations to fight violence against women and girls by committing financial resources 

to such efforts. Future joint efforts by the international community should not simply fight violence—they should insist on full transparency, accountability and willingness to share intelligence, and uphold integrity of budgetary decisions. 

Beyond the scope of the Chibok kidnapping, the northern region of Nigeria is 

undergoing its toughest moments, with over 70 percent youth unemployment, widespread abject poverty, desolation, and hopelessness. In adverse situations, religion 

and religious extremism become dangerous opium to the hopeless. It is clear that 

perverse religious indoctrination by Boko Haram, among others, is anything but 

Islamic. We have seen atrocities. We have witnessed horrific incidences, slaughtering of fellow human beings in the name of doing God’s work. We are shocked by 

this high-scale destruction and perverse terrorism. We have grieved at the loss of 

loved ones. A situation where the abducted girls were separated from their parents, 

friends and love ones as well as from their religion has no place in Islam. In fact, 

the Quran 2:56 says ‘‘There shall be no compulsion in religion.’’ 

Against the various issues that we as an international community face, one goal 

we can support and reinforce is that of reduced violence. Amongst the various types 

of violence that undermine stability today, gender-based violence has yet to be freed 

from the shackles of silence and suppression. The recent kidnapping of over 200 

girls in Chibok, Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria illustrated the scale of such 

gender-based violence and prompted a global call for action. Who is better suited 

for such a call to action than the United States of America? I believe that, as a city 

upon a hill and a beacon of hope, the United States has the full capability of combating the recent rising tide of violence against women both domestically and internationally. And it is not only myself that sees the United States as a city upon a 

hill—throughout a meeting with people from 17 countries in Amman, Jordan, last 

week at the invitation of HRH, Prince El-Hassan Bin Talal, no single moment 

passed without a positive reference to the United States. 

In looking forward to long-term peace and stability, the various countries interested in peace and freedom should invest in cooperative technology pooling. Furthermore, the dire deficiency of manpower and appropriate counterterrorist training 

were both key issues during the Chibok kidnapping, and I believe that directing resources and funding toward military training and personnel recruitment (especially 

in countries facing such high terrorist activity) will reinforce stability and global 

peace. 

I also believe that at the local level in Nigeria our human resources could be better used to stop the violence. When members of a village unite toward one cause, 

the commitment and love put forth by each individual member become a force to 

be highly reckoned with. I believe that, just as local intelligence and reliance on 

other local means of counterterrorism such as the civilian Joint Task Forces (JTF), 

comprising hunters, fishermen, cow rearers, should be fully utilized in future pursuits of stability and peace, establishing a communal safety net that would focus 

on the correct upbringing and teaching of children would both mitigate current 

insurgency manpower and principles and limit future influence of fundamentalist 

indoctrination. 

Yet while even a single candle can defy the surrounding darkness, the international community has a rising sun and beacon of hope. While I believe that combating gender-based violence should not end with just the passing of IVAWA and 

CEDAW, which I believe is sorely needed, the leadership of the United States in 

ensuring the passing of the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) 

and the ratification of CEDAW will undeniably pave a smoother path for future 

work against violence and will certainly make our hands-on work lighter. I strongly 

believe that ratification by the United States will make the treaty stronger and give 

it a higher status that will provide a greater incentive for Nigeria and other countries to make a more serious effort to end discrimination and violence against 

women and girls. 

That though it looks dark and hopeless, and we are grieved by our inabilities 

to get the girls back, we will not give up, the sun will rise again, may be, even 

brighter. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you for your eloquence. And I could not 

agree with you more on the action items on your list. 

32 

So finally, we are pleased to have Ms. Jacqueline O’Neill, the director of the Institute for Inclusive Security, an organization dedicated to demonstrating and supporting women’s contribution to 

peace-building all over the world. Ms. O’Neill consults regularly 

with NATO and other multilateral organizations. She has also designed training for police, military, and civilian professionals. Previously she served at the United Nations mission in Sudan and as 

a policy advisor to Canada’s Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific. 

And we are grateful for the wealth of knowledge and breadth of 

experience that our panel members have. All of them and that includes you, Ms. O’Neill. So please let us hear from you. 

STATEMENT OF JACQUELINE O’NEILL, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE 

FOR INCLUSIVE SECURITY, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ms. O’NEILL. Chairman Boxer, you are known around the world 

for shining a spotlight on these issues. I want to thank you, Ranking Member Paul, Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Corker, 

and the other members. 

For the last 15 years, Inclusive Security has increased the inclusion of women in peace and security processes around the world. 

All that we do is driven by the over 3,000 members of our global 

Women Waging Peace Network, many of whom, Senator Boxer, you 

have hosted here in Congress. 

This network includes women like those recently displaced by 

war in South Sudan who, earlier this year, despite living in camps 

literally partitioned in half with a line separating two tribes, began 

crossing the divide at first to talk over tea in each other’s tents and 

then to organize a joint march to the governor’s house, most walking barefoot for hours in the sun, to demand an end to the violence 

and a voice in the process. 

Our network also includes Zainab Bangura, whose father threw 

her out of the house in Sierra Leone at age 12 because she refused 

to marry. Zainab’s mother left with her and somehow provided her 

an education. Zainab went on to become her country’s Foreign Minister and now travels the world as the top U.N. envoy on sexual 

violence in conflict. This near child bride from a once war-torn nation told me a few weeks ago, ‘‘I say to those men who kidnapped 

the girls in Nigeria what I say to all men who rape. Whoever you 

are, wherever you are, we will run after you. And we will find you.’’ 

My written submission echoes many of the points that my remarkable fellow witnesses have made this morning. So in the spirit 

of compelling action, I want to focus directly on two priorities that 

we see as transformative but generally underattended. 

Senator BOXER. We will put your full statement in the record. 

Ms. O’NEILL. Thank you. 

So the first is that we absolutely must get more women to participate directly in more peace negotiations. It is often at this stage 

that the most troubled countries lay the foundation for their future. 

As one woman said to me recently, ‘‘If we’re not at the table, you 

can be sure we’re on the menu.’’ 

About 92 percent of those who negotiated peace agreements in 

the last 40 years were men. The result is that half of all peace 

agreements collapse within 5 years, and the vast majority fail to 

address the topic of sexual violence in conflict. 

33 

Evidence shows that, when present, women raise these issues, 

but they often broaden the discussion even further, moving beyond 

who gets to run which ministry and where borders are divided, to 

address the underlying drivers of conflict and, importantly, to reduce the structural barriers that contribute to violence and discrimination. 

In Guatemala, for example, women ensured that talks addressed 

police power. In Darfur, women spoke about food security. In 

Northern Ireland, they raised integrated education. 

The single most important policy tool that the U.S. Government 

has to increase women’s participation at peace talks is its National 

Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. The plan is being 

rolled out, but progress is much too slow. And Congress can help 

speed up its implementation. 

First, by passing the bipartisan Women, Peace, and Security Act, 

which you, Senator Boxer, and others have championed, and second, by holding a hearing about the National Action Plan to which 

you would invite the Secretaries of Defense, State, and the Administrator of USAID to talk about progress, gaps, and how they are 

working together. 

The second major priority to which I want to call your attention 

relates to women’s roles in security forces. The numbers here are 

dismal. In Pakistan, for example, women make up less than 1 percent of the police force. Without a doubt, access to protection and 

justice for survivors of sexual violence increases when women are 

meaningfully integrated into security forces. Females are simply 

far more likely to report cases of assault to other women. 

But again, the value that women bring is much broader. They 

contribute to all aspects of mission success and effectiveness and, 

when present in large enough numbers, can transform institutions 

and the public’s perception of power, force, and legitimacy. 

Women’s recruitment, retention, and safety in security forces are 

woefully underresourced, and Congress can change this too. Last 

year, Congress took action on this issue for the first time ever, appropriating $25 million for this purpose in Afghanistan. A week 

ago, thanks to the support from many on this subcommittee, the 

Senate Appropriations Committee passed its foreign operations appropriations bill which included provisions prioritizing the same 

thing for Pakistan’s police force. Members can ensure that the final 

bill retains these provisions and that funding is at least maintained 

this year for women in the Afghan National Security Forces in any 

defense spending and authorization bills. 

I will stop here so we can turn to questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. O’Neill follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF JACQUELINE O’NEILL

Chairman Boxer, you’re known around the world for shining a spotlight on these 

issues. Thanks to you, Ranking Member Paul, Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Corker, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you as well to all in civil society here and abroad who play such an important role in provoking change. 

For the last 15 years, The Institute for Inclusive Security, led by Ambassador 

Swanee Hunt, has increased the inclusion of women in peace and security processes. 

We work on current conflicts, in countries affected by war, and with policymakers 

in the U.S., other governments, NATO, the U.N., and beyond. 

All that we do is driven by the over 3,000 members of our global Women Waging 

Peace Network. 

34 

The Network includes women like those recently displaced by war in South 

Sudan, who earlier this year, despite living in camps literally partitioned in half— 

with a line separating two tribes—began crossing the divide. At first to share stories 

over tea in each other’s tents, and then to organize a joint march to the governor’s 

house—most walking barefoot for hours under a blazing sun—to demand an end to 

the violence and a voice in the process. 

The Network includes female police officers like some in Pakistan, who face harassment from their colleagues at work and isolation from their families at home, 

yet proudly button up their uniforms each morning because they feel a call to serve. 

It also includes Zainab Bangura, whose father threw her out of their house in 

Sierra Leone at age 12 because she refused to marry. Zainab’s mother left with her, 

and somehow provided her daughter with an education. Zainab went on to become 

her country’s Foreign Minister and now travels the world as the top U.N. envoy on 

sexual violence in conflict. This near child bride from a once war-torn nation told 

me a few weeks ago, ‘‘I say to those men who kidnapped the girls in Nigeria what 

I say to all men who rape: Whoever you are, wherever you are, we will run after 

you. And we will find you.’’ 

Zainab and others will agree that if there is any good news in the fight against 

violence and discrimination, it’s this: We have not yet fully engaged the single greatest resource available—women themselves. 

To a dramatic and disgraceful extent, women continue to be excluded from essential areas of decisionmaking. They are not yet full and equal partners in developing 

and maintaining the elements of society that most directly impact their ability to 

live free from violence and discrimination. 

Women’s full security requires effective governance, where just laws are applied 

equally and there is equity in access to services and opportunities. It requires access 

to justice, which relies not only on a well-functioning judiciary and legal system, but 

also on effective and representative police and other security forces. Women’s security requires their participation in defining the future of their state—as formal decisionmakers and as contributors to public discourse.1 Fundamentally, it also requires 

widespread acceptance of the dignity and value of all persons. 

We will see a significant shift in all forms of violence and discrimination when— 

and only when—we recognize women as fundamental actors in every one of those 

areas. 

How do we do this? What can Congress do? The range of actions required is 

broad; let me call to your attention two priorities that are transformative, but 

underattended. 

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

First, we absolutely must get more women to participate directly in more peace 

negotiations. 

It’s often at this stage that the most troubled countries lay the foundation for 

their future. As one woman said to me recently, ‘‘If we’re not at the table, you can 

be sure we’re on the menu.’’ 

About 92 percent of the people who have negotiated peace agreements in the last 

40 years were men.2 The result? Half of all peace agreements collapse within their 

first 5 years, and the vast majority fail to address the issue of sexual violence in 

conflict, the topic of the major global conference hosted last week in the U.K. 

Only 18 out of 300 peace accords signed since 1989, and only three cease-fire 

agreements in all of recorded history, have mentioned sexual violence. 

Evidence shows that, when present, women raise this issue. But they often 

broaden the discussion even further, moving the conversation beyond who gets to 

run which ministry and where borders are set, to address the underlying drivers 

of conflict and reduce the structural barriers that contribute to violence and discrimination. 

In Guatemala, for example, women ensured that talks addressed police power. In 

Darfur, women spoke about food security. In Northern Ireland, they raised integrated education. 

Women’s exclusion not only jeopardizes the sustainability of an agreement; it condemns women to struggle even harder for representation and justice later on. 

The single most important policy tool the U.S. Government has to increase women’s participation at peace talks is its National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and 

Security. Launched via Executive order in 2011, it’s a whole-of-government strategy 

whose goal is simple but profound: to ensure that women are equal partners in preventing conflict and building peace. 

The Action Plan is being rolled out, but progress is much too slow. Congress can 

speed up its implementation. 

35 

First, by passing the bipartisan Women, Peace, and Security Act which Senators 

Boxer, Kirk, and others in both Chambers and on both sides of the aisle have championed. This bill would strengthen the ability of Congress to oversee implementation 

of the National Action Plan and coordinate the funding that has already been 

employed to resource it. 

Second, by holding a hearing about the National Action Plan. Members could 

invite the Secretaries of Defense and State and the Administrator of USAID to 

speak about how far their organizations have come, how far they still need to go, 

and how they’re working together. 

Third, by keeping the Nation Action Plan foremost in the minds of the nation’s 

leaders. Imagine if every potential appointee to a position of influence in diplomacy, 

defense, or development was asked at a confirmation hearing how the principles of 

the Plan are reflected in his or her priorities. Even the fear simply of being caught 

without an answer would prompt meaningful reflection and preparation by candidates and agencies that support them. 

Fourth, by ensuring that every congressional delegation, particularly those to regions most affected by war and violence against women, make a point of meeting 

with local women leaders from civil society and government to signal their importance and hear from them directly. 

SECURITY FORCES

The second priority to which I want to draw your attention relates to women’s 

roles in security forces. 

The numbers here are dismal. In Pakistan, women make up less than 1 percent 

of the police force. In Afghanistan, they’re less than a third of 1 percent of the 

National Army. Worldwide, women are only about 10 percent of police. In the Middle East and North Africa, that average is 2 percent. At the U.N., only 3 percent 

of military and 10 percent of police personnel are women. Even in the U.S., women 

make up only about 20 percent of today’s military. 

While policies and practices are shifting slowly, in the U.S. and around the world 

there is absurd foot dragging when it comes to recognizing that women’s full and 

meaningful involvement in police, military, and other services fundamentally 

increases the effectiveness of those forces and their ability to serve and protect men, 

women, boys, and girls. 

Without a doubt, access to protection and justice for survivors of sexual violence 

increases when women are meaningfully integrated into security forces. Females 

are simply far more likely to report cases of assault to other women. Data from 39 

countries show that when women police officers are present, there are significantly 

higher rates of reporting.3

But the value of women in security forces is much broader. They contribute to all 

aspects of mission success and, when present in large enough numbers, can transform institutions and the public’s perception of power, force, and legitimacy. 

Women’s recruitment, retention, and safety in security forces are woefully 

underresourced. Congress can change this. 

It’s time to redefine the purpose for which the U.S. spends billions of dollars on 

security assistance. U.S. support should, in large part, be dedicated to the development of inclusive, representative, and professional forces—ones that reflect the 

makeup of the populations they’re tasked to serve. 

Being explicit about goals also means being explicit about money. Policy priorities 

need to be resourced with specific appropriations for the recruitment, retention, and 

safety of women in police and militaries. Last year, Congress did this for the first 

time ever, appropriating $25 million for this purpose in Afghanistan.4

A week ago, thanks to support from many on this subcommittee, the Senate 

Appropriations Committee passed its Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which 

included provisions prioritizing the same for women in Pakistan’s police force. The 

bill even recognized the importance of recruiting more women into security forces 

to combat gender-based violence. Again, for the first time ever. 

Members of this subcommittee can continue to demonstrate leadership by ensuring the final bill retains these provisions and by at least maintaining funding this 

year for women in the Afghan National Security Forces in any defense spending and 

authorization bills. 

CONCLUSION

It’s beyond time to recognize that not only are violence and discrimination against 

women an affront to our collective humanity; they’re also a threat to our collective 

security. 

36 

Harvard researcher Valerie Hudson recently analyzed 174 countries and found 

that the best predictor of a state’s peacefulness is not its level of wealth, its level 

of democracy, or its ethnoreligious identity; it’s how well its women are treated. The 

larger the gender gap, the more likely a state is to be involved in violent conflict— 

inside and outside of its borders.5

In London last week, the Chief of the Australian Army spoke about sexual violence in conflict and the choice to be a protector or a perpetrator. He said there is 

no third option, no bystanders, explaining, ‘‘The standard you walk past is the 

standard you accept.’’ 

Thank you for trying to stop us in our tracks. 

———————— 

End Notes 

1 Barsa, Michelle. ‘‘Progress or Peril: The Role for Women in Defining Afghanistan’s Future.’’ 

Presentation, Women’s Foreign Policy Group, Washington, DC, June 5, 2014. 2 U.N. Women (October 2012). ‘‘Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections 

Between Presence and Influence.’’ (NY: UN Women), 3. 3 U.N. Women (2011). ‘‘2011–2012 Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice.’’ (NY: 

U.N. Women), 59. 4The Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act and Consolidated Appropriations 

Act reserved no less than $25 million of the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund for the recruitment, retention, and security of women in the Afghan National Security Forces. 5 Hudson, V.; Ballif-Spanvill, B.; Caprioli, M.; & Emmett, C. (2012). ‘‘Sex and World Peace.’’ 

(NY: Columbia University Press), 205. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. I have a number of questions. So I 

am just going to keep going until I have to go to vote. So we will 

just get started. 

Ms. Markham, many of us know the story of Malala Yousafzai, 

a brave Pakistani school girl and outspoken advocate for girls’ education who was nearly killed in a brutal attack by Taliban gunmen. 

And I introduced the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act. The bill 

would expand an existing USAID scholarship program to ensure 

that 50 percent of the scholarships awarded go to women. Not an 

outrageous request. Previously, only a quarter of the recipients had 

been women. So our bill says, no, you must do 50 percent. 

Now, my bill has not yet been enacted, but USAID committed to 

providing 50 percent of new scholarships under this program to 

women, which is great. But I was disappointed to learn that only 

29 percent of the scholarships that have been awarded in the first 

half of 2014 have been for women. Does USAID really plan to 

award at least 50 percent of all scholarships to women? I think it 

is critical that I know now because I do not like hearing you are 

going to do it and then you do not do it. So what is the story there? 

Ms. MARKHAM. Thank you for that question. 

As you know, we have been working across a wide range of programs in Pakistan to make sure that girls and young women are 

involved in the schools. And I believe that the delay has been the 

fact that we are in between school years just now and in the fall 

we will reach the 50 percent of scholarships provided, including the 

Fulbright Program. 

In addition—— 

Senator BOXER. When you say the fall, when will you be able to 

confirm that for me? 

Ms. MARKHAM. I will have to check with my colleagues in the 

Pakistan office, but in this briefing, they said that in the first half 

we had not reached it but that we were fully intending to. 

Senator BOXER. But you said the fall. 

Ms. MARKHAM. Yes. Where are we now? We are in June. So in 

the coming months, we will know as they enroll. 

37 

Senator BOXER. So let us just be clear that I will call you on October 1. 

Ms. MARKHAM. I look forward to that call. 

Senator BOXER. Okay, good. 

In your testimony, you highlight a number of important USAID 

programs that prevent and respond to violence against women from 

the Safe School pilot program in Ghana to a health care provider 

training program in Haiti. But I am not clear whether the programs you discuss fit within a comprehensive, targeted approach to 

ending violence against women. You are doing some really good 

things. Are they part of an overall plan? is my question. 

Ms. MARKHAM. So we do believe that all of our gender-based violence programs need to have a multisectoral approach, whether it 

is economic development, education, health care. Even infrastructure issues have to be taken into account to respond to genderbased violence. Some are more specifically focused. For instance, in 

the Democratic Republic of Congo where violence against women is 

so overwhelming, a lot of the programs are more focused on that. 

But even in the Safe Schools program, even in economic or microenterprise programs, we try to combat gender-based violence and 

address the root causes of the gender imbalance which causes this. 

Haiti is actually a great example. It is going to be our first mission 

where gender-based violence is integrated across all programs. So 

whether it is water, education, health care, even governance programs, gender-based violence will be a part of it. In other places 

where the need is more acute, the gender-based violence takes 

more of a lead and those other sectors support that work instead 

of the other way around. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. 

Ambassador Russell, the International Violence Against Women 

Act is so critical because we want to codify in law the existing Office of Global Women’s Issues within the State Department and the 

Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues. It would also require the implementation of a U.S. global strategy to prevent and 

respond to violence against women and girls, including the development of comprehensive, individual country plans for 5 to 20 countries, which I think is critical because different countries will have 

different problems and issues. And I am just asking you a very 

basic question. I think it will not be hard for you to answer. But 

will you commit to working with me to enact IVAWA? 

Ambassador RUSSELL. Yes. 

Senator BOXER. That is good. 

Ambassador RUSSELL. Senator, you know when I was here working in the Senate, I worked on that bill, and I think I was the first 

staff person to work on it. I care so much about it. And I think, 

importantly, I really believe in the approach of the bill. I think it 

is critically important to approach it that way, comprehensively. 

And I also think we have tried to do, from the administration’s 

perspective, what we can setting up my position, Susan’s position, 

trying to approach these issues that way. But Congress—you all 

weighing in on this is an incredibly powerful statement not unlike 

what you did here this morning. And I think you cannot underestimate the power that will have in the world. And I think doing that 

would make it—— 

38 

Senator BOXER. I know you have a lot of connections here in the 

Senate. So if people you know are not on this bill, please get them 

on the bill. 

I want to talk about CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination 

of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, because I feel if 

you just stopped someone in the street who was not that into all 

of our nuances here and said, can you believe that America is 

standing with countries like Sudan, Somalia, and Iran where 187 

countries have already ratified this, they would be horrified. And 

so does the administration support the ratification of CEDAW? 

Ambassador RUSSELL. Yes. And I would say this. In a way, it is 

somewhat easier for people in the United States to take it for 

granted because our laws are so progressive here. But I will say 

when I travel around the world, it is a lifeline for women, and they 

are desperate for us to pass it because they do not understand why 

we have not. And in their countries, people look to the United 

States and people who are opposed to it in their countries say, you 

know, look, the United States has not passed that. And that is a 

very challenging thing. My colleague here is saying yes, that is 

true. It is very confusing for people, and I think it really undermines our efforts and it deprives us of a very powerful tool. It is 

a very conflicting statement. And I think this concept of us as a 

beacon of hope is a powerful image, and it is very important to 

these countries and to the advocates in those countries. And we 

should not underestimate the power of that image. 

Senator BOXER. Well, I think it is important that everyone within the sound of my voice knows that this administration strongly 

supports CEDAW—— 

Ambassador RUSSELL. Yes, we do. 

Senator BOXER [continuing]. And the International Violence 

Against Women Act. In trying to explain it to folks, I would explain 

it this way. It is internal politics and it is ludicrous. And it is side 

issues that have nothing to do with the basic message, which is 

equality. 

Ambassador RUSSELL. It is confusing to people. 

Senator BOXER. It is confusing to people, but I think if you say 

to people it is politics, it is internal politics. It is not a rejection of 

the notion that we are all created equal. But it is extremely frustrating nonetheless and ridiculous. It should be a nonissue. And we 

will keep on pushing. 

And my last question for you, Ambassador. Last month, we were 

horrified to learn that two young girls in India were murdered 

after being brutally raped. Tragically attacks against women are 

all too common in India. 

And so I wrote to India’s newly elected Prime Minister urging 

him to take immediate action to combat violence and improve the 

safety and security of women and girls. 

Ambassador Russell, you traveled to India in February to discuss 

efforts by Indian police to protect women from violence and abuse. 

Can you kind of give us a report of where you think things stand 

there? 

Ambassador RUSSELL. I can. Obviously, the stories of the gang 

rape, the hangings are absolutely horrifying. The interesting thing 

is that the Indian public had a very strong reaction to that as well, 

39 

and I think the politicians there are responding. It will be very interesting to see how the new Prime Minister reacts to this, and we 

are hopeful that there will be a positive and forward-thinking reaction. 

We are engaged in a dialogue with the Indian Government, a 

women’s empowerment dialogue. That has been ongoing. We are in 

the process of negotiating an MOU with the Indian Government on 

women’s issues, and I think that we are fairly optimistic going forward. We have been talking to them about gender-based violence 

issues in places that we can share experiences with them. And so 

at this point, I am somewhat hopeful that this will be a positive 

effort going forward. 

Obviously, we are waiting to see how this government reacts to 

those, but we will certainly keep in touch with you on that. I know 

that you have a tremendous interest in it, and we certainly do as 

well. 

Senator BOXER. Please, and I would be very happy to help as 

well. 

Ambassador RUSSELL. That would be terrific. 

Senator BOXER. Now, Mr. Barker—I should say Dr. Barker—I 

am so proud of your work. And it has occurred to me over many 

years now that clearly there is some kind of an advantage that 

men in these countries get—boys and men who commit this violence. And if we could just have an ethos around the world that 

said real men do not beat up women, real men protect women. I 

would also add real men vote for women. [Laughter.] 

So we need to get that ethos out there in a pretty strong way. 

You are a weakling if you attack a woman. You do not stand for 

anything. You are low. But if you protect a woman, you are really 

a special human being. 

It seems to me in this day and age of the ability to get messages 

out—have you thought about, for example, recruiting men who are 

looked up to in the sports world? Have you done that? Can we do 

more of that? Because I believe that is the most effective way— 

when you have these real role models saying, no, no, no, no. This 

is not how you become a real man. So talk to me about that and 

whether sports can play a role in your work. 

Dr. BARKER. Well, it happens to be the World Cup going on at 

the moment. So it is a great moment to talk about sports and getting men on the right page. 

I absolutely echo your sentiment that what we are trying to do 

is get the message out and we print this on T-shirts in English and 

kiswahili and Kenya, Rwanda, and Portuguese which says men of 

quality are not afraid of equality. So trying to use a message that, 

yes, men should vote for women. We have four women Presidents 

in the Americas region. We have yet to have one here, but who 

knows what happens in a couple of years. 

So part of this whole change is that, how do—— 

Senator BOXER. Meet me afterward and we will talk about it. 

[Laughter.] 

Dr. BARKER. I would be glad to. 

Senator BOXER. Some interesting possibilities. 

Dr. BARKER. We are very much trying to tap into that. How do 

you use the sports field as a place to say we can change these 

40 

norms? And there are a lot of men out there in silence who already 

are appalled by this violence. So it is not like we have got to start 

a new movement. What we are trying to do is make it safe for men 

to say we expect you to speak out. You have been harmed by this 

violence. You have seen it. Say something about it. 

We have got some public service announcements running at the 

moment in Brazil around the World Cup. We have a soccer player, 

football player putting his name out on the issue of the sexual exploitation of underage girls. We have done household data in Brazil 

that finds about 14 percent of men acknowledge they have ever 

paid for sex with a girl under the age of 18. That, of course, is illegal in Brazil. Lots of efforts to do the law enforcement side. But 

to say, wait a minute, as we put their stories out, as we put what 

they say to justify it out, most men are appalled by that. And so, 

again, the message is getting football players, getting fathers, getting men everywhere to say we do not agree with this. And there 

are a lot of men who are already resonating to it. So we are doing 

the public service announcements but also trying to take it to 

where guys hang out every day, the locker room, schools, afterschool programs, so all of the above. 

Senator BOXER. Well, I just want to say anything that we can do 

here to help, the women of the Senate, the men of the Senate that 

care so much about this—we have people who are role models to 

young men and they happen to be other men who are successful 

in the areas of sports and other very highlighted professions. I just 

think in my heart that could turn the tide. It really could turn the 

tide because it is not only a question of the right thing to do, but 

if you do the wrong thing, that is not really being a man. And I 

think that is something that has been on my mind for so long and 

how to do that. 

I am a mom of a son and a daughter, and I am a grandmother 

of a little girl and little boys. So for me, their future really depends 

on the fact that we need to have zero tolerance for violence of any 

kind against anyone, any religion, any color, anything. There is no 

tolerance for violence. Zero. So I think the people who are the most 

respected in society out there—you know, we need to tap into that. 

So anything I can do to help. 

Ms. Ibrahim, I just want to ask you—when we heard about the 

girls, the audacity of hundreds of girls being kidnapped, it shook 

this country. It shook us. And I wonder in your country did it 

shake people up or was it more or less, oh, there they go again? 

Can you give me a sense of the truth about that? 

Ms. IBRAHIM. It shocked our conscience. We are still living in disbelief that it has happened. 

Our only hope, let me say, is that the assistance that the United 

States and other members of the international community have 

been pouring in to help us, especially with technologies, will yield 

results. But the ability to push—and you have done that in this 

committee and beyond. We cannot rest until we find them. 

Senator BOXER. So you would say that the country is shaken up 

about it, and that is across all areas of the country? 

Ms. IBRAHIM. Mostly in the north. 

And this also brings the discussion, which I put in the paper, 

about the difference between the north and the south. The incident 

41 

of the Boko Haram and the Islamic fundamentalists are more in 

the north, and that is where we have sharia. In the south, we do 

not. So it is the ability not only to engage Nigerians but to engage 

Nigerians that are the sons and daughters of the soil, meaning people that work directly with some of the insurgencies and to see how 

we could long-term be able to slow down on this recruitment of— 

there is over 70 percent unemployed youth. 

You are asking the question about what men can do. In our society, the women can hardly succeed without the men. And yesterday 

the Feminist Foundation and I were trying to call a figure, a sentence about what we thought about it. And we said something that 

it is this feeling of the patriarchal continuum syndrome that is still 

prevalent in some of our society. But I think this hearing will go 

beyond this room, and we hope we can run with it as we see also 

the passage of the CEDAW and the IVAWA. 

Senator BOXER. Well, I hope the message goes out. Whoever is 

holding those girls, you are not living up to your manhood. Let 

those girls go. 

So in my last question, I want to turn to the issue of this lack 

of enough, it seems to me, female peacekeepers around the globe. 

And I have long been working on that issue as well. According to 

your written testimony, only 3 percent of U.N. military and only 10 

percent of U.N. police personnel are women. Now, we are the largest single contributor to the U.N. and the largest contributor to 

U.N. peacekeeping operations. What more can we do to help turn 

this around—it is absolutely wrong—to have more women in these 

positions? 

Ms. O’NEILL. I agree. We can do a few things. As you mentioned, 

the United States is the largest financial contributor. We are not 

the largest troop contributor. So one of the areas of pushback that 

is often received at the U.N. is from national militaries and national police forces that we simply do not have the women in our 

forces to contribute. And if you want to go upstream on that problem and cut off that response, one of the things the United States 

can do is encourage more countries to create national action plans, 

so effective national action plans domestically that increase the recruitment and retention of women into national police and military 

forces. Right now, there are only about 43 countries in the world 

that have them, and many of the largest troop-contributing countries do not. Of course, you just cannot get more women into peacekeeping missions if they are not coming from these so-called feeder 

countries. 

The second thing is we need to keep up the pressure on the Secretary General and on other member states to appoint more women 

to leadership positions across the United Nations. A couple weeks 

ago, we saw the first-ever appointment of a female military commander to lead the military portion of a U.N. mission. It was a big 

step and we need a lot more of those. 

There has also been great pressure on the United Nations from 

countries like the United States in the last several years to appoint 

more women as heads of the mission, so again signaling and demonstrating that leadership role that the U.N. is able to walk the 

walk in terms of appointing women to be some of its senior leaders 

42 

and demonstrate that to people around the world, men and women 

in their communities. 

Finally, I would call attention to the issue of reviewing the mandates of peacekeeping and peace operations missions. So as a member of the Security Council, the United States has an opportunity 

to review the text that informs the purpose of those missions. And 

that is a prime opportunity to ensure that there is language inside 

there that calls for the members of those missions to consult regularly with women who are affected by conflict, to have more females in the troops and in the mission composition itself, and to 

make sure that the money that the United States and others are 

contributing are actually going to the priorities that this committee 

and others are identifying as essential not just for the effectiveness 

of the U.N. but for our broader global security. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you very much. 

I just want to say, because I need to run and vote now, this was 

a very important hearing, and I think the fact that we had everybody together in a way, even though it is not exactly the protocol, 

I think it is wonderful because I think when we listen to each 

other, the people who have the power to make the changes and the 

people who are on the ground in a nonprofit sense, it is a very important listening moment. 

So what I hear everybody saying is we need to move on legislation that carries out this notion that is not very radical: that we 

are all created equally and we have to protect all segments of our 

population. I hope everyone within the sound of my voice—and 

there are people still outside. I am so sorry. We did not have any 

clue we would have such interest. We would have had a bigger 

room—should write to folks who are not yet on the International 

Violence Against Women Act and who have not yet declared in 

favor of ratification of CEDAW. Please write to those Senators. We 

are United States Senators. We represent the whole country. I 

think it is important that this country not stand with the most repressive forces in the world against CEDAW. It is ridiculous. It is 

embarrassing. It is inexplicable. And we need to get people in the 

Senate from both parties to help us with these two important 

movements, the CEDAW movement, the IVAWA movement, to put 

into law the fact that global women’s issues need to be addressed 

because another administration could come in and say it is not important. So we need to get it into law. So if you could all help us 

with that. 

And I just want to say to Ms. Ibrahim, thank you so much for 

your marvelous voice and to all of you. 

And this notion that we are going to get, Dr. Barker, men to embrace this. I think we had a very iconic situation here when we had 

all those women Senators. You know, I would like to have a lot of 

male role models in the world sit here and say we have joined Dr. 

Barker in this notion that we are going to step out and say no to 

violence against women. And that would be an iconic photograph 

that I would love to arrange. 

So to all of you who care so deeply about this, it means a lot to 

us up here because there are a thousand issues and you know what 

they are every day. They are all difficult and many are complicated. To me this is not complicated. This is an issue that has 

43 

a solution. We have to make sure people understand every single 

person has to be respected and not violated. And it is a simple 

point. I do not think it takes that much energy to explain. But 

sadly there are some people who do not get it. 

And so we need those role models. We need those voices. And I 

know so many of you in this room—I dare not start mentioning 

names because I would leave people out. Just keep up what you are 

doing and know that you have in this committee under the leadership of Senator Menendez and my subcommittee a place to come 

and a place to show the world that we care so much and to show 

this country that we care about our women and girls. As Senator 

Klobuchar said, we have issues in our own country, and we are 

going to tell other people what to do. We have got to make sure 

that our house is one that is clean. 

So thank you for caring. As Barbara Mikulski often says, we will 

stand sentry on this issue. Thank you very much. 

We stand adjourned. [Applause.] 

And we will keep the record open for statements from other colleagues and questions. 

[Whereupon, at 11:20 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

RESPONSES OF AMBASSADOR CATHERINE M. RUSSELL TO QUESTIONS

SUBMITTED BY SENATOR BY SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ

Question. South Sudan.—Gender-based violence—including rape, sexual assault, 

harassment, domestic violence, forced marriage, and survival sex—was a persistent 

problem in South Sudan prior to the current conflict. There is no doubt that with 

the current state of mass displacement, ubiquitous armed actors, the complete lack 

of rule of law, the situation has only deteriorated. Indeed, a recent UNMISS Human 

Rights report explains that all parties to the conflict have committed acts of sexual 

violence against women of different ethnic groups. UNFPA estimates that 24,500 

South Sudanese women and girls are at risk of sexual violence. 

Outside the U.N. bases, the dangers for displaced women and girls are the most 

severe. Women and girls face assault when they venture outside of the U.N. bases 

for livelihood activities and firewood collection. For example, one South Sudanese 

woman recently reported being raped three times in the last 2 weeks when collecting food for her family. While they are reluctant to leave the compounds and fear 

that they will be sexually assaulted by the armed actors outside, they take the risk 

because they understand that men would be killed if they leave, whereas women 

would ‘‘only’’ face sexual violence. 

♦ What steps is the U.S. taking in cooperation with the U.N. to scale up comprehensive GBV services, including medical and psychosocial support, both 

inside and outside of the U.N. bases? 

♦ Will the U.S. provide funding to protection actors to set up safety patrols to 

accompany women on trips outside of the U.N. bases for firewood collection or 

livelihood activities, consistent with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee 

Guidance on Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy in Humanitarian 

Settings? 

Answer. So far in fiscal year 2014, the United States has provided more than 

$434 million to international and nongovernmental organizations to help conflictaffected people who have been displaced within South Sudan and forced to flee to 

neighboring countries. In addition to providing critical relief supplies and services, 

humanitarian actors, including those funded by the United States, are providing a 

multisector GBV prevention and response services, including access to specialized 

medical and psychosocial care for survivors, and material supports, both inside and 

outside of U.N. bases in South Sudan. In addition, all U.S. partners are required 

to ensure that the unique needs, safety, and dignity of women, girls, disabled, and 

other groups at increased risk of GBV, are factored into the design, delivery, and 

44 

monitoring of assistance, ensuring that all U.S. funded programs include measures 

to promote the protection and well-being of the conflict affected populations. 

U.S. partners are providing proactive, protective presence for at-risk individuals 

and communities facing specific threats or risks, and UNMISS is providing protective patrolling of access routes in and out of humanitarian response areas to deter 

violence against civilians. Partners are also using safety audits and safety assessments to monitor the changing environment and circumstances that can put women 

and girls at risk, promoting community-led strategies to mitigate risks and engaging 

the community in promoting gender-sensitive programming and services to meet the 

unique needs of the community. Ongoing protection monitoring efforts help partners 

ensure access to humanitarian services, identify risks, and adjust programs to 

reduce risks. Protection activities also support referrals for GBV survivors to provide appropriate survivor centered services. 

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidance on Safe Access to Firewood and 

Alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings provides a valuable roadmap for 

humanitarian partners to identify the best household fuel strategy in both the acute 

and protracted phase of an emergency. During this acute phase and in light of the 

UNMISS mandate’s increased emphasis on protection of civilians (POC), the United 

States is also encouraging UNMISS to conduct operations to secure key areas in 

towns to enable freedom of movement for IDPs. We are encouraging UNMISS to 

develop a system to inform IDPs and aid workers when a patrol is planned, so that 

IDPs can time their movements outside of the POC sites to coincide with these 

patrols. 

In addition, our government is doing its utmost to help end this senseless conflict 

in the world’s newest nation to enable the South Sudanese to direct their attention 

to eliminating the scourge of sexual and gender-based violence. 

Question. The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.—We are pleased 

to see the U.S.’s leadership of the Call to Action on Protecting Girls and Women 

in Emergencies and the Safe from the Start initiative, both of which aim to address 

gender-based violence in conflict settings and other humanitarian crises. 

♦ Following the recent global summit, are there additional concrete actions the 

U.S. plans to take that link the goals of the global summit with these ongoing 

initiatives? 

Answer. The goals of the Call to Action on Protecting Girls and Women in Emergencies and the Safe from the Start initiative (which represents the U.S. Government commitment to the Call to Action) are closely aligned with the goals advanced 

by the June 9–13 Global Summit to End Sexual Violence. These efforts emphasize 

the need for comprehensive care for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) in 

emergencies and the importance of practical steps the international community can 

take to help reduce the dangers that women and girls face in conflict and crisis situations around the world. 

The United States worked closely with the United Kingdom to ensure that the 

Call to Action and the humanitarian dimensions of addressing sexual violence and 

other forms of gender-based violence were an integral part of the summit agenda 

and outcomes. In collaboration with UNICEF and UNFPA, the United States 

cohosted several expert-level sessions that addressed current efforts to strengthen 

the humanitarian system and build capacity within institutions to better prevent 

and respond to GBV from the start of an emergency. The sessions also provided 

field-based perspectives on needs, challenges and opportunities for survivor-centered 

prevention and response efforts in current emergencies, and on how we can scale 

up evidence-based approaches in humanitarian crises. These sessions were also an 

opportunity for the United States to urge other governments, U.N. agencies, and 

NGOs to sign on to the Call to Action communique and follow through on existing 

monetary and operational commitments to the Call to Action. 

At the summit, the United States also provided an update on our efforts under 

Safe from the Start and our commitment to the Call to Action, including extensive 

stakeholder consultations to further develop and refine a roadmap for progress. 

Building on the success of the global summit, the United States will continue to 

identify and leverage all available opportunities for outreach at the global, regional, 

and local levels, to promote accountability and encourage concrete action and chance 

by key actors. In addition, the Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and 

Migration announced a new opportunity for nongovernmental organizations to compete for Safe from the Start funding to develop programs to prevent and respond 

to gender-based violence in acute refugee emergencies. Secretary Kerry also 

affirmed our intent to build on our initial $10 million commitment for Safe from the 

Start at the U.N. General Assembly this September, where we will launch several 

new programs and partnerships currently in development. 

45 

The Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development look forward to building on the momentum generated by the summit to engage new stakeholders and continue to advance a strategic vision for collective action to tackle all 

forms of GBV. This will include strengthened coordination across all departments 

and agencies to implement the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and 

Security, and the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence 

Globally. 

Question. Training for USG Personnel on Gender Integration.—In recent years, 

the USG has demonstrated that women and girls should be integral to all diplomatic efforts and has instituted mechanisms to ensure that all bureaus, both 

regional and functional, and missions in the field consider gender issues. Still, 

NGOs see a gap in training on gender issues for some field-deployed personnel that 

hinders robust programming on women’s issues. 

♦ Will the USG include mandatory training and capacity-building for all of our 

personnel on gender integration issues, particularly those deployed to regional 

hubs and bilateral missions? 

♦ Training for field-deployed personnel should also include a full briefing on the 

U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the U.S. Strategy to 

Prevent and Respond to GBV Globally, the Call to Action to End Violence 

Against Women in Emergencies, and Safe from the Start, to ensure that these 

initiatives are fully implemented at all levels. 

Answer. The Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual (‘‘Promoting Gender Equality 

to Achieve our National Security and Foreign Policy Objectives’’; 18 FAM 030) 

directs the Department to provide relevant training for our diplomats and development professionals on gender equality and advancing the status of women and girls 

in service of our national security and foreign policy objectives. In addition, Secretary Kerry has released policy guidance directing all Department bureaus and 

offices to further the implementation of 18 FAM 030, including expanding the structures, tools, and training necessary to institutionalize a focus on gender equality. 

As part of the implementation of these requirements, the Secretary’s Office of 

Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) and the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) signed a 

Memorandum of Understanding in January 2013 to develop a stand-alone course on 

gender equality, with modules that could be included in other relevant regional, 

tradecraft, and leadership courses. The Department is exploring additional training 

initiatives and actions, including the possibility of mandatory training, to further 

build capacity of all employees on gender integration issues. 

Since 2012, FSI’s 3-day classroom course, ‘‘Promoting Gender Equality to Advance 

U.S. Foreign Policy Objectives,’’ has trained more than 200 State Department personnel, including field-deployed employees. As part of the course curriculum, participants are required to read the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and 

Security and the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence 

Globally. During the course, experts from the Department of State, USAID, and civil 

society engage course participants on how to implement these strategies, including 

in various regional contexts. FSI and S/GWI consult regularly with other Department bureaus and USAID to incorporate briefings on relative initiatives and opportunities, such as the Call to Action to End Violence Against Women in Emergencies, 

and Safe from the Start, into the course curriculum. 

Additionally, FSI and S/GWI are developing an optional distance learning training 

course that will cover key definitions and the gender policy framework. This course, 

which will be accessible to all employees, will significantly further the Department’s 

ability to train field-deployed employees on gender integration issues. 

Question. Safe From the Start.—Last fall, Secretary Kerry announced the provision of $10 million for the Safe From the Start Initiative to prevent and respond 

to GBV in humanitarian emergencies. 

♦ What specific programming has been developed to help women refugees? 

♦ What specific positive actions and developments have resulted from the Safe 

From the Start funds? 

Answer. The first organizations in 2013 to receive funding through Safe from the 

Start were the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Committee of 

the Red Cross (ICRC), two critical humanitarian organizations with global operations. ICRC is using the Safe from the Start funding to strengthen its global 

response to sexual violence, including in the Central African Republic and the 

Democratic Republic of the Congo, through programs including support for survivors 

and raising awareness in communities to reduce stigma and prevent further violence. UNHCR has developed a comprehensive program of action through Safe from 

the Start, including new mandatory training on GBV for all personnel, innovative 

46 

new programs including a pilot financial empowerment initiative for Syrian refugee 

women in Cairo, Egypt facing GBV and community protection mechanisms in Uganda for South Sudanese refugees, and the creation of a new roster of emergency protection staff who will be responsible for strengthening the GBV response at the 

onset of a crisis. The first of these staff deployed to Erbil, Iraq, in May to assist 

arriving Syrian refugees, and additional personnel are preparing to start new 

assignments in Cameroon and Uganda to address the CAR and South Sudanese 

crises. 

In addition, State/PRM is supporting the Women’s Refugee Commission to develop 

a roadmap and consultative process around the Call to Action commitments. This 

will assist in bringing additional donors and stakeholders to the table to maximize 

our collective impact. State/PRM also released a new funding opportunity for nongovernmental organizations on June 6, and proposals will be reviewed later this 

summer. 

State and USAID are developing additional partnerships and programs and 

expect to announce these at the U.N. General Assembly in September. 

RESPONSES OF SUSAN MARKHAM TO QUESTIONS

SUBMITTED BY SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ

Question. Haiti has been recognized by USAID as a country that is implementing 

gender-based violence (GBV) programming across all sectors. What are concrete 

examples of GBV programming implementation across the following sectors: Agriculture, Nutrition, Political Competition and Consensus Building, Public Health, 

Rule of Law and Human Rights, Education, and Civil Society Strengthening? 

Answer. While USAID/Haiti is currently addressing GBV with programming 

across several sectors, the mission will expand to additional sectors as the postearthquake reconstruction strategy is fully implemented. To ensure further GBV 

integration across the portfolio, USAID/Washington is sending a team of gender specialists to Haiti in August 2014 to review existing programs, suggest opportunities 

for GBV integration, and identify mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation. The 

team will also bring USAID staff working on GBV programming in different sectors 

together with local stakeholders and implementing partners. 

GBV-RELATED PROGRAMING

USAID/Haiti addresses GBV both directly with targeted prevention, treatment 

and advocacy work and indirectly by empowering women through agriculture and 

economic growth programs that aim to elevate their status, improve their economic 

security, and reduce vulnerability to GBV. 

PUBLIC HEALTH

Through the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic 

Infections (GHESKIO), USAID is providing female victims of sexual violence with 

access to integrated health services. Since 2012, over 3,000 GBV victims have been 

referred to voluntary counseling and testing for HIV services, reproductive health, 

and/or psychological support services. USAID is also training Haitian health care 

providers at 31 facilities on how to identify and manage GBV cases and provide 

referrals to social and legal services. Since 2012, more than 177,000 people have 

been sensitized and surveyed on GBV, including 485 staff, over 118,000 patients, 

and over 58,500 community members living in high-risk areas. The new service 

delivery program, awarded in September 2013, will expand treatment and support 

services for victims of GBV to additional health sites. USAID is also designing a 

new program, Combating Violence, which will aim to strengthen GBV survivorcentered services and referral pathways and prevent future GBV in emergency settings. It will focus on improving survivors’ access to integrated services, including 

medical care and referral services, physiological care and support, and economic 

opportunities. 

POLITICAL COMPETITION AND CONSENSUS BUILDING

During the coming election cycle, USAID will support efforts to comply with a 

recent constitutional amendment mandating a 30-percent quota of women in political parties and public life by training women candidates in communications and 

platform development, encouraging political parties to respect the 30 percent quota, 

and supporting civil society organizations to promote women candidates in the political process. 

47 

1 A Haitian Creole term for children in forced domestic service. 

RULE OF LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Haiti enacted legislation criminalizing human trafficking in 2014 with support 

from the U.S. Government. In collaboration with the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, USAID also plans to provide support on gender-based violence bills in the 2014 

current legislative session. Through Collective Action for Security against Exploitation (acronym AKSE in Haitian Creole), USAID is strengthening advocacy efforts 

for human rights in the areas of gender-based rights, sexual and gender-based violence (GBV), and child protection. 

EDUCATION

USAID is currently designing a program to increase equitable access to education, 

which leads to greater economic opportunity and reduced vulnerability to GBV. The 

program will target vulnerable populations, including street children and 

restaveks,1 and address violence and GBV as barriers to access to education by providing psycho-social support to victims, training teachers and administrators in 

mitigation techniques, and raising awareness through classroom materials. 

CIVIL SOCIETY STRENGTHENING

USAID provided support to three women’s organizations, including the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV), to establish a call center that provides public information on resources available to victims of GBV. Additionally, the 

human rights program referenced above, AKSE, will employ small grants to local 

institutions to provide services to victims and map existing informal SGBV and 

women’s protective service networks, including providers specific to the lesbian, gay, 

bisexual, transgender, and intersex community. 

AGRICULTURE

In addition to helping plant and harvest crops, women are the primary vendors 

at the marketplace, often referred to in Haitian Creole as ‘‘Madame Saras.’’ Madame 

Saras benefit from USAID-supported investments in the value chain including 

access to credit, improved roads, and an SMS-based communication system providing market price information in real time. To date, USAID trained over 2,800 

female farmers and certified 738 female master farmers in production techniques 

and natural resource management, helping to increase farm yields. Additionally, 

more than 40 percent of the nearly 13,000 farmers enrolled in the Haiti Hope 

mango program are women. 

NUTRITION

The new Development Food Aid Program, awarded in August 2013, reduces food 

insecurity and vulnerability by supporting the Government of Haiti in establishing 

a safety net system and expanding capacities to prevent child undernutrition. The 

new program supports the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Rights with technical 

guidance on gender integration related to food security and social assistance programming. The program also supports activities to engage men in promoting female 

decisionmaking and participation and is piloting social and behavioral change communications strategies to challenge norms around masculinity and violence. 

Question. The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.—We are pleased 

to see the U.S.’s leadership of the Call to Action on Protecting Girls and Women 

in Emergencies and the Safe from the Start initiative, both of which aim to address 

gender-based violence in conflict settings and other humanitarian crises. 

♦ Following the recent global summit, are there additional concrete actions the 

U.S. plans to take that link the goals of the global summit with these ongoing 

initiatives? 

Answer. The goals of the Call to Action on Protecting Girls and Women in Emergencies and the Safe from the Start initiative (which represents the U.S. Government commitment to the Call to Action) are closely aligned with the goals advanced 

by the June 9–13 Global Summit to End Sexual Violence. These efforts emphasize 

the need for comprehensive care for survivors of gender-based violence in emergencies and the importance of practical steps the international community can support to reduce the dangers that women and girls face in conflict and crisis situations 

around the world. 

48 

The United States worked closely with the United Kingdom to ensure that the 

Call to Action and the humanitarian dimensions of addressing sexual violence and 

other forms of gender-based violence (GBV) were an integral part of the summit 

agenda and outcomes. In collaboration with UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United States cohosted several expert-level sessions that 

addressed current efforts to strengthen the humanitarian system and build capacity 

within institutions to better prevent and respond to GBV from the start of an emergency. The sessions provided field-based perspectives on needs, challenges, and 

opportunities for survivor-centered prevention and response efforts in current emergencies, and on how we can scale up evidence-based approaches in humanitarian 

crises. These sessions were also an opportunity for the United States to urge other 

governments, U.N. agencies, and NGOs to sign on to the Call to Action communique 

and follow through on existing monetary and operational commitments to the Call 

to Action. 

At the summit, the United States provided an update on our efforts under Safe 

from the Start and our commitment to the Call to Action, including extensive stakeholder consultations to further develop and refine a roadmap for progress. Building 

on the success of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, the United 

States will continue to identify and leverage all available opportunities for outreach 

at the global, regional, and local levels, to promote accountability and encourage 

concrete action and change by key actors. In addition, the U.S. Department of 

State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM) announced a 

new opportunity for nongovernmental organizations to compete for Safe from the 

Start funding. Secretary Kerry also affirmed our intent to build on our initial $10 

million commitment for Safe from the Start at the U.N. General Assembly this September where we will launch several new programs and partnerships currently in 

development. 

The United States looks forward to building on the momentum generated by the 

summit to engage new stakeholders and continue to advance a strategic vision for 

collective action to tackle all forms of GBV. This will include strengthened coordination across all departments and agencies to implement the U.S. National Action 

Plan on Women, Peace and Security, and the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond 

to Gender Based Violence Globally. 

Question. Safe From the Start.—Last fall, Secretary Kerry announced the provi- sion of $10 million for the Safe From the Start Initiative to prevent and respond 

to GBV in humanitarian emergencies. What specific programming has been developed to help women refugees? What specific positive actions and developments have 

resulted from the Safe From the Start funds? 

Answer. The first organizations in 2013 to receive funding through Safe from the 

Start were the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and 

the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), two critical humanitarian 

organizations with global operations. ICRC is using the Safe from the Start funding 

to strengthen its global response to sexual violence, including in the Central African 

Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, through programs 

including support for survivors and raising awareness in communities to reduce 

stigma and prevent further violence. UNHCR has developed a comprehensive program of action through Safe from the Start, including new mandatory training on 

GBV for all personnel; innovative new programs including a pilot financial 

empowerment initiative for Syrian refugee women in Cairo, Egypt, facing GBV; community protection mechanisms in Uganda for South Sudanese refugees; and the creation of a new roster of emergency protection staff who will be responsible for 

strengthening the GBV response at the onset of a crisis. The first of these staff 

deployed to Erbil, Iraq, in May to assist newly arriving Syrian refugees, and additional personnel are preparing to start new assignments in Cameroon and Uganda 

to address the CAR and South Sudanese crises. 

In addition, State/PRM is supporting the Women’s Refugee Commission to develop 

a roadmap and consultative process around the Call to Action commitments. This 

will assist in bringing additional donors and stakeholders to the table to maximize 

our collective impact. State/PRM also released a new funding opportunity for nongovernmental organizations on June 6, and proposals will be reviewed later this 

summer. 

The Department of State and USAID are developing additional partnerships and 

programs and expect to announce these at the U.N. General Assembly in September 

2014. 

Question. Training for USG Personnel on Gender Integration.—In recent years, 

the USG has demonstrated that women and girls should be integral to all diplomatic efforts and has instituted mechanisms to ensure that all bureaus, both 

49 

regional and functional, and missions in the field consider gender issues. Still, 

NGOs see a gap in training on gender issues for some field-deployed personnel that 

hinders robust programming on women’s issues. 

♦ Will the USG include mandatory training and capacity building for all of our 

personnel on gender integration issues, particularly those deployed to regional 

hubs and bilateral missions? 

Answer. The USAID Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy requires 

all Agency staff who design, evaluate, or manage strategies and projects, or who 

directly or indirectly supervise these staff, to receive basic gender training. This includes live and online courses designed by the Office of Gender Equality and Female 

Empowerment (GenDev), colleagues in the Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning 

(PPL) and USAID technical experts. In July 2012, GenDev hired a full time Training Coordinator who is responsible for the Agency’s overall gender integration training strategy and designing courses with input from staff across the Agency. 

ONLINE COURSES

‘‘Gender 101: Gender Equality at USAID’’ is a mandatory online course to provide 

USAID staff with the basic knowledge and skills needed to ensure an understanding 

of, and a commitment to, gender equality and female empowerment in our Agency’s 

work. The course also presents an overview of the goals and objectives of core gender-related policies and strategies guiding the Agency’s work, including the Gender 

Equality and Female Empowerment Policy, U.S. National Action Plan on Women, 

Peace, and Security, and U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based 

Violence Globally. As of June 30, 2014, over 3,600 people, approximately one-third 

of all USAID staff completed this course. 

‘‘Gender 102: Putting ADS 205 into Action is a companion to Chapter 205 of 

USAID’s Automated Directive System: Integrating Gender Equality and Female 

Empowerment in USAID’s Program Cycle.’’ Developed under the leadership of the 

Agency’s Senior Gender Advisor in PPL and slated for release by the end of September 2014, this course will allow staff to develop skills to include attention to gender inequalities in country-level strategies, project designs, solicitations and evaluations. It also covers requirements and techniques for reporting on the USG standard 

Gender Equality and Female Empowerment indicators as well as on spending levels. 

On June 30, 2014, the Office of Gender Equality and Female Empowerment 

launched ‘‘Gender 103: Gender 103: Roles and Responsibilities of Mission Gender 

Advisors,’’ as an additional online resource for staff that includes strategies for carrying out gender integration in the Agency’s everyday tasks, and tips on working 

with mission leadership and technical and program offices to integrate gender 

across all sectors. 

LIVE COURSES

New Civil Service and Foreign Service employees learned about the importance 

of gender equality and integration during their orientations; as well as at a workshop for Foreign Service officers from around the world. A key component of the 

Agency’s training strategy has been to offer gender trainings at regional hubs in 

Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and 

Eurasia, as well as customized gender training for bilateral missions to address 

their specific country contexts and specific challenges. These are coorganized by 

USAID’s Regional Gender Advisors and the GenDev Office, with participation from 

technical staff with expertise in sectors such women, peace, and security; genderbased violence prevention and response; women’s economic empowerment. 

In addition, some bureaus and technical sectors have incorporated gender integration requirements or guidance into their live courses, or are doing so with the training currently under design. For example, gender has been well-integrated into 

Bureau for Food Safety and Global Health training courses, and in trainings for 

Global Climate Change. To support NAP implementation, specialized training 

opportunities focused on gender integration in crisis prevention, response, recovery, 

and transition environments were developed and are now part of USAID’s regular 

complement of training (e.g., Gender and Conflict, Gender and Political Transition, 

Gender: Integration in Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Programs). 

USAID has also implemented mandatory training requirements for disaster assistance response personnel designed to increase USAID’s ability to deliver effective 

humanitarian assistance for women, men, boys, and girls. In fulfillment of the 

United States National Action Plan (NAP), all Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster 

Assistance (OFDA) staff are required to complete the Interagency Standing Committee (IASC) e-learning course, ‘‘Different Needs-Equal Opportunities: Increasing 

the Effectiveness of Humanitarian Action for Women, Girls, Boys, and Men.’’ AddiVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
50 

tionally, all OFDA staff deployed on Disaster Assistance Response Teams in a program-related function are required to complete a training course on humanitarian 

protection. 

Question. Training for field-deployed personnel should also include a full briefing 

on the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the U.S. Strategy 

to Prevent and Respond to GBV Globally, the Call to Action to End Violence Against 

Women in Emergencies, and Safe from the Start, to ensure that these initiatives 

are fully implemented at all levels. 

Answer. All field staff with responsibility for programming receive basic information on key gender-related policies and strategies and how to implement them 

through Gender 101. This knowledge is supplemented with . . . GenDev trainings 

cover integrating gender-based violence prevention and response efforts into sectoral 

work. For example, the above-mentioned regional gender trainings in Africa, Asia. 

and the Latin America and Caribbean regions discuss how GBV issues (including 

trafficking) exist within sectors such as agriculture, energy, and infrastructure; how 

GBV impacts the LGBT community; how males can be both allies and victims; and 

what type of activities USAID could consider to address these issues. A recent series 

of gender integration training targeting field staff in missions in the Middle East 

and North Africa region, as well as live ‘‘Operationalizing ADS 205’’ courses have 

incorporated instruction on Women, Peace, and Security, including objectives and 

approaches for improving prospects for peace and security through the empowerment and protection of women and girls in conflict- and crisis-affected environments. 

USAID is also developing sector-specific toolkits that will help project design teams, 

project managers, and program officers integrate gender-based violence prevention 

and response efforts, as well as WPS objectives, into USAID programs. In addition, 

new Foreign Service officers are briefed on the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence Globally and National Action Plan on Women, 

Peace, and Security during orientation processes. This topic is also covered in the 

online Gender 101 training. 

USAID will continue to provide resources and training to staff and to assist them 

with integrating gender issues effectively into their work and fulfilling the mandate 

of these key strategies and initiatives. 

STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED BY SENATOR MARIA CANTWELL (D. WA) 

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, for calling this hearing. Last year, I was proud 

to be an original co-sponsor for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women 

Act, which protects American women against violence and human trafficking. I’m 

especially proud of the tribal provisions we included in VAWA, which are critical 

because nearly 40 percent of American Indian women will endure domestic violence 

in their lifetime, compared to 24 percent in the general population. VAWA ensures 

that violence prevention programs receive strong federal funding, and gives law enforcement powerful tools to fight violence and trafficking. 

Violence against women is not just a problem in the United States; it’s a challenge 

around the world. That’s why I am proud to be a co-sponsor of the International 

Violence Against Women Act. 

Madam Chairwoman, thank you for your leadership on empowering women 

around the world to stand up to violence. One key step to empowering women 

around the world is through access to education. Unfortunately, for many young 

women around the world today, educational opportunities are limited. According to 

the United Nations, only 35 percent of young women in Sub-Saharan Africa will receive a secondary education, let alone the college degree that opens up new opportunities for women in the workplace, and in leadership positions around the world. 

But even though gender disparities in education remain high, especially in the developing world, countries and nongovernmental organizations are stepping up to the 

plate to make a difference. Today, I want to share the story of an organization 

which empowers young women in Rwanda by helping them receive a strong secondary-school education. 

Rwanda was devastated by the war and genocide in 1994, but against all odds, 

Rwandans have managed to rebuild their country and become a model of low corruption, economic growth and gender parity in government. The constitution mandates a minimum 30 percent representation for women in parliament, and today, 

remarkably, it is 64 percent women. These women have been instrumental in the 

reconciliation and rebuilding of the country and continue to lead today. However, 

women are not represented at this level in all sectors, and in the rural areas, many 

parents are skeptical of the value of educating their girls. As is typical in many deVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
51 

veloping countries, if parents have limited money to send their children to school, 

many will send only their boys and keep the girls at home to help with household 

chores like collecting wood and tending to younger siblings. In Rwanda, 97 percent 

of girls attend primary school, but less than 13 percent attend secondary school, 

meaning that only a small fraction of Rwanda’s young women will have the opportunity to go to university. 

Rwanda Girls Initiative (RGI) was founded in 2008 in Seattle, Washington, with 

the mission of educating and empowering girls of Rwanda to reach their highest potential. RGI believes that education is the foundation on which all other development is built, and educating girls can exponentially increase this impact. With this 

belief, and with a strong partnership with the government of Rwanda, RGI started 

the Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology in 2011. Gashora Girls Academy is an upper-secondary university prep boarding school for 270 girls in grades 

10–12 located in the Gashora sector of Bugesera District, a poor, agricultural area 

located an hour to the south of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. This area was particularly devastated during the country’s genocide in 1994. Gashora Girls Academy offers a curriculum that focuses on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, 

and math) with an underlying belief in the importance of educating and nurturing 

the ‘‘whole girl.’’ Beyond the STEM coursework, students focus on developing life 

skills, leadership, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities. Crucially, they get 

an education in a safe environment, free from the violence that is all too common 

for many young women in Rwanda and around the world. 

In October 2013, Gashora Girls Academy graduated their first class of seniors. Of 

85 graduates, 25 are admitted to schools in the U.S., including Harvard, Yale, 

Smith, the University of Pennsylvania, and Seattle University. Two more girls are 

going to McGill University in Canada. These 27 girls coming to North America will 

be receiving approximately $4.8 million in financial aid in order to attend worldclass institutions. Other graduating students are attending schools in Costa Rica, 

China, South Africa, Ghana, and right at home in Rwanda. These girls will become 

national leaders, doctors, scientists, teachers, and more, each contributing to the 

success of their country. 

Enatha Ntirandekura is a recent graduate from Gashora Girls Academy. Both of 

her parents are subsistence farmers and the very little income they make is from 

a small plot of land. Though Enatha was always a strong student, some in her village discouraged her parents from allowing her to continue her studies. They said 

that a girl shouldn’t be educated. At one point, someone in the village burned her 

family’s coffee trees, their sole source of income. But her parents continued to send 

her to school, and she had the top score in her district on the national exam after 

middle school. She was offered a scholarship by the Rwanda Girls Initiative to attend Gashora Girls Academy. Enatha is a tenacious student and scored perfectly on 

the national exam she took after graduating this past year. Because of her success, 

she has been selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive a full scholarship 

to an American university this fall. She hopes to study agriculture, and then go 

back to Rwanda to work on the problem of malnutrition and food scarcity to help 

her community. 

As we can see from Enatha, educating a woman is a tremendous investment. 

When Enatha returns home with her degree in agricultural science, that one scholarship to Gashora Girls Academy will empower her to help many more people in 

Rwanda. And Enatha’s story is not unique; in fact, it is the norm. One extra year 

of secondary school increases a girl’s future wages by 15 to 25 percent. When a 

woman in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries later and has fewer children. When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 

90 percent of it into their families, creating a ripple effect for coming generations. 

Helping Enatha and the young women like her become doctors, teachers, and leaders will transform not only individuals, but entire communities. 

Educating girls and young women is the surest way to empower them. Education 

empowers them to teach, to lead, and to stand up against violence. I am honored 

to stand with my female colleagues to draw attention to this important issue. A 

great education transforms lives and can lift up entire communities and countries. 

I look forward to working with the Chair and my colleagues to empower women and 

girls around the world. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R. ME) 

Madame Chairwoman, Ranking Member Paul, thank you for holding this hearing 

on a topic that could not be more timely. We are all aware of Boko Haram’s kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria in mid-April. They were targeted for the 

52 

sole offense of seeking an education. They are still missing, and the more time that 

passes, the more difficult it will be to reunite these girls with their families. And 

there are additional reports that Boko Haram kidnapped another 20 women a week 

ago. 

Meanwhile, in India, two girls were found dead outside their village May 29; they 

had been raped and then hanged. Two more teenage girls were found hanged in 

India on June 12. In Pakistan last month, a woman was stoned to death by her own 

family members outside a court building in a major city, because her family was 

outraged that she married the man she loved rather than the man they had chosen 

for her. 

These anecdotes illustrate a phenomenon that is well-documented. According to 

U.N. Women, the U.N. organization that promotes gender equality, 35 percent of 

women worldwide have experienced either physical or sexual abuse. In some countries, that figure rises as high as 70 percent. This type of violence ranges from domestic violence to rape and acid burnings to dowry deaths and so-called ‘‘honor 

killings.’’ Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, a public 

health epidemic, and a barrier to solving global challenges such as extreme poverty, 

HIV/AIDS, and conflict. 

I believe the U.S. can and should be a leader in ending one of the biggest obstacles to not only U.S. national security but also global stability, development, prosperity, and human rights for all. This is why I am proud to be one of the original 

sponsors of the bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA, S. 

2307), a bill that would ensure the U.S. has a comprehensive strategy in place to 

secure the safety and rights of women and girls, men and boys, across the world. 

The International Violence Against Women Act—IVAWA—would ensure that the 

U.S. will continue to take a leadership role in combatting these problems. It would 

establish that it is the policy of the United States to take action to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls around the globe and to systematically 

integrate and coordinate efforts to address gender-based violence into U.S. foreign 

policy and foreign assistance programs. IVAWA would permanently authorize the 

State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and the position of the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. It would require the Administration to 

develop and implement an annual strategy to prevent and respond to violence 

against women and girls for each of the five years after the date of enactment of 

this Act. This bill would ensure that efforts begun under President George W. Bush 

and President Obama to combat gender-based violence will continue in future Administrations. 

Violence has a profound effect on the lives of women and girls. In addition to 

being a pressing human rights issue, such violence contributes to inequality and political instability, making it a security issue as well as a moral issue for us all. I 

am committed to continue working with my colleagues to end violence against 

women and girls and to provide the assistance and resources necessary to achieve 

this goal, and I call on all of my colleagues who are concerned about the global problem of violence against women and girls to join Senator Boxer and me in co-sponsoring the International Violence Against Women Act of 2014. 

Madame Chairwomen, Ranking Member Paul, I thank you again for holding this 

hearing. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY

CONGRESSWOMAN CAROLYN B. MALONEY (D. NY) 

Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Paul, I would like to thank you for hosting the 

hearing titled, ‘‘Combating Violence and Discrimination Against Women: A Global 

Call to Action’’ in the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women’s Issues. 

I have long believed, like you, that it is critical we empower women on a global 

scale. It has been clear for many years that expanding opportunities for women not 

only improves their position in society, but also has a positive impact on economic 

growth and burgeoning democracies. It is of upmost importance that we continue 

to raise awareness and highlight the need for action on the fundamental right of 

equality for all. 

That is why I introduced H. Res 19, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Senate should ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All 

Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This bipartisan House Resolution urges the Senate to vote to ratify CEDAW, the landmark international agreement that mandates governments to take positive steps to ensure the full development and advancement of women, and their equal enjoyment of human rights, and 

53 

that governments change or eradicate discriminatory laws, customs, and practices. 

Ratification of CEDAW would continue our nation’s proud bipartisan tradition of 

promoting and protecting rights for all. Yet, the United States is the only western 

country in the world that has not ratified the treaty, although its fundamental principles of equality and nondiscrimination are central to our constitution. By not ratifying CEDAW, the United States becomes a bystander in creating a greater solution 

for women’s equality around the world. The Senate’s ratification of CEDAW would 

strengthen our standing as a global leader for the rights of women and girls everywhere. 

I also reintroduced legislation in this Congress, HR. 2947, the International Women’s Freedom Act, condemning violations of women’s rights and gender equality 

while advocating for the improvement of the status of women around the world and 

the achievement of their equality with men. This bill would put in place a more sophisticated network for monitoring and evaluating the status of women worldwide. 

With a better evaluation system that includes greater consultation with both government groups and non-governmental organizations; more information on women’s 

rights will be available to Congress and the public at large. This, vastly increases 

both the quality and quantity of information available to combat gross violations of 

women’s rights. The bill also would require the U.S. Department of State to issue 

a report rating countries on their treatment of women. As is the case with the annual State Department Trafficking in Persons report, countries care about their 

‘‘score’’ and work to improve their status, which ultimately helps the victims. 

The United States needs high-level commitment in the form of laws which lay out 

explicit benchmarks for progress on women’s rights around the world, backed by accountability mechanisms and the resources to achieve stated goals. Guaranteeing 

human rights for women is inextricably linked to a larger struggle for peace. development— and uniting for meaningful change. I strongly believe we owe it to the 

women of the world to shine a spotlight on the status of their rights in an effort 

to improve them. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY ESTA SOLER, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, FUTURES WITHOUT VIOLENCE

On behalf of Futures Without Violence, I would like to thank the Members of the 

Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, and Democracy, and Global Women’s Issues for holding this 

congressional hearing on one of the most compelling causes of our time: ending gender-based violence globally. 

For more than 30 years, Futures Without Violence has led the way and set the 

pace for groundbreaking education programs, national and international policy development, professional training programs, and communication campaigns designed 

to end gender-based violence around the world. In 1994, FUTURES (then the Family Violence Prevention Fund) was instrumental in developing the landmark Violence Against Women Act passed by the U.S. Congress. Ten years later, FUTURES 

built a major coalition of experts from across the United States and around the 

world to tackle gender-based violence globally. Working together with congressional 

leaders in the House and Senate, we helped craft the International Violence Against 

Women Act (IVAWA) which the House and Senate both reintroduced in the 113th 

Congress with unprecedented bipartisan support. 

This hearing comes at an opportune time. Advocates across the United States and 

local leaders around the world are applauding and calling for more U.S. government 

initiatives that provide a diplomatic, programmatic, and policy framework for the 

prevention and reduction of gender-based violence internationally. We applaud the 

U.S. government for presenting the first ever U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond 

to Gender-Based Violence Globally (Strategy) and U.S. National Action Plan on 

Women, Peace and Security (NAP). These two historic policy frames align closely 

with provisions in IVAWA. As a group, these form the foundation of efforts to 

achieve gender equality, promote women’s and girls’ empowerment, end genderbased violence, and institutionalize these approaches in U.S. foreign policy. In addition to the work undertaken by the U.S. government to implement the Strategy and 

NAP, FUTURES celebrated last year when the U.S. Congress reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, which included important provisions to end child marriage internationally and also reauthorized the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. 

The implementation of these initiatives arrives at a critical moment. Recent cases 

of horrific violence against girls and women in Nigeria, Pakistan, and India have 

galvanized the world around the need to address gender-based violence. Nations 

large and small, international agencies and financial institutions, nongovernmental 

54 

organizations, and women and men of diverse communities, ethnicities, faiths, and 

political affiliations, all recognize that gender inequality and violence against 

women and girls are among the greatest barriers to global development, security, 

and prosperity. 

Most importantly, this global movement is driven by the voices of those denied 

their most basic human rights simply because they are female. I am talking about 

the 23 year-old student gang-raped and beaten on a bus during her daily commute; 

the hundreds of girls abducted from school by militants and sold into forced marriages; the newly married 25 year-old bludgeoned to death by her father who disapproved of her choice in husband and sought to restore his family’s honor; the teenage cousins raped and hanged while venturing to use a public restroom; the adolescent boys forcibly recruited to participate in violence; and the young girls whose 

breasts are ‘‘ironed’’ flat under the misguided notion that it will delay puberty and 

deter possible rape. Violence against women and girls and men and boys is an emergency every day and it claims a toll in every country. 

All too often, the world’s leaders are moved to act in the face of critically urgent 

and high profile emergencies, like the recent floods in the Balkans, the tragic aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, and the typhoon in the Philippines. These crises 

demand urgent action—and it is imperative that such action takes into account the 

heightened vulnerability of women and girls to become targets of violence, sexual 

assault, and trafficking—but these leaders, and all of us, have to understand that 

violence is not relegated to times of great humanitarian crises and conflict—it happens every day. 

In regions of armed conflicts horrific sexual and physical violence are being committed against women and girls and men and boys, often as a tool of war. The 

Democratic Republic of Congo remains ground zero for horrific acts of sexual violence, including sons being forced to rape their own mothers and young girls being 

kidnapped and gang raped on a regular basis. 

Importantly, activists and leaders and everyday citizens around the world are taking action to stop the violence. I want to talk specifically about the role men can 

play in ending violence against women and girls. At Futures Without Violence, we 

began intentionally focusing on the role men can play in this work almost two decades ago. We asked men about their stake in the issue, and what they were willing 

to do to end the violence. We explored who helped them develop their attitudes and 

beliefs. Then we built on that research to create our Founding Fathers campaign 

through which, each Father’s Day, men across the nation re-dedicate themselves to 

teaching the next generation that violence against women and girls is wrong. 

Founding Fathers include people like M.L. Carr, former all-star with your Boston 

Celtics; Ted Waitt, founder of Gateway Computer; Terry Lundgren, Chairman, 

President and CEO of Macy’s; and hundreds of others. 

Those lessons also led us to create Coaching Boys Into Men in 2002. It invites 

fathers, uncles, teachers, coaches and other men to teach the next generation that 

violence is always wrong. It has changed men’s behavior in the United States, significantly increasing the number of fathers, and men, who talk to boys about violence. As a result, we adapted those strategies overseas. We are proud that, with 

support from our partners, we have put in place Coaching Boys Into Men in India, 

where cricket coaches and players are helping educate boys about the need to treat 

girls with respect. We have learned that when messages come from popular, respected coaches and players, boys listen. 

Deep-seated change will only come when we stand together to stop this violence. 

There is a role for each of us. 

With each passing day there is a growing understanding of the correlation between improving the status of women and girls and achieving peace and prosperity. 

Nations that promote gender equality and empower women and girls, and that remove the often formidable barriers for women and girls to access education, secure 

safe employment, participate in civic life, and live free from violence, also experience 

reductions in the rates of HIV and AIDS, decreases in incidents of child and maternal mortality, improvements in economic productivity, and the enrichment of 

participatory and democratic government. When we eliminate violence against 

women and girls and when we empower women and girls, everyone benefits. 

The International Violence Against Women Act codifies many of the 

groundbreaking initiatives undertaken by the U.S. government that are having an 

immediate and direct impact in saving the lives of women and girls around the 

world. Most notably, IVAWA: 

• Directs the Department of State and U.SID to continuing to implement a comprehensive multisectoral strategy to prevent and respond to gender-based violence; 

55 

• Integrates efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls 

as part of U.S. foreign assistance programs including health, education, economic growth, legal reform, political participation, social norm change, humanitarian assistance, and foreign security training, among others; • Supports overseas non-governmental and community-based organizations working to end gender-based violence; and, • Ensures uniform data collection and accountability measures are in place to 

track investments in programs that address gender-based violence. 

We need the U.S. Congress to stand together and affirm with unquestioned conviction that gender-based violence is not only deplorable, but is an issue that requires U.S. leadership. We need the U.S. Congress to move beyond the rhetoric and 

to pass the International Violence Against Women Act. 

Ending gender-based violence is a moral imperative, but it is also an essential feature for building stable democracies, enabling economic development, and improving 

global security. This is an issue that rises above partisan politics. It is about the 

promotion of universal human rights and about creating a better world for everyone, 

women and girls, and men and boys alike. Thank you. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY AMANDA KLASING, WOMEN’S RIGHTS RESEARCHER, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, Ranking Member Rand Paul, and other members of 

the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, thank you for the opportunity to submit a written statement for today’s 

hearing on violence and discrimination against women. 

Human Rights Watch has been documenting violence against women as a human 

rights violation for almost a quarter of a century. We are pleased that your Committee is taking up this issue as a global call to action, as we believe that it will 

take significant leadership on the part of the United States to prevent, punish and 

eliminate violence against women globally, and to ensure adequate protections and 

services for survivors. 

On June 13, 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, held in London, ‘‘Gender-based violence, anywhere, is a threat to peace, security, and dignity everywhere.’’ Human 

Rights Watch could not agree more. Gender-based violence is pervasive in the lives 

of hundreds of millions of women and girls around the world, including in our own 

country. It is well past time for Congress to take meaningful action to address violence against women globally, Violence against women spans geography, class, age, 

race, caste, creed, disability and sexual orientation, and eradicating it will require 

comprehensive understanding of its many manifestations. In this submission, 

Human Rights Watch would like to direct the subcommittee’s attention to a few key 

areas of concern: child marriage; impact of conflict on women and girls; violence 

against women and girls with disabilities; and, women human rights defenders. 

Child marriage 

Child marriage occurs when at least one of the parties of a marriage is below 18 

years of age. It is a violation of human rights that disproportionately affects hundreds of millions of girls and women. Child marriage also violates other human 

rights, including the rights to education, freedom from violence, reproductive rights, 

access to reproductive and sexual health care, employment, freedom of movement, 

and the right to consensual marriage. 

Human Rights Watch has documented human rights violations against married 

girls in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Kenya, Malawi, Papua New Guinea, 

South Sudan and Yemen.1 The accounts of the girls and women who were married 

as girls illustrate the profoundly detrimental impact of child marriage on their physical and mental well-being, education and ability to live free of violence. The consequences of child marriage do not end when child brides reach adulthood, but often 

follow them throughout their lives as they struggle with the health effects of being 

pregnant too young and too often, their lack of education and economic independence, domestic violence and marital rape. 

The worst abuses linked to child marriage can be mitigated when governments 

set and enforce age limits for marriage, establish and enforce compulsory marriage 

registers, and prosecute perpetrators of forced marriage. 

Impact of conflict on women and girls 

Human Rights Watch first documented sexual violence in conflict in 1993 in a report about Indian security forces in Kashmir that used rape to brutalize women and 

56 

punish their communities. Since then, we have investigated and documented rape 

in numerous conflicts around the world, most recently in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, 

Libya, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Syria.2 Regardless of the setting, we have found 

that efforts to hold attackers to account and medical and rehabilitation services for 

victims have largely been inadequate. 

The international community has made progress in recognizing the prevalence of 

sexual violence and taken steps to address it. Rape in conflict is prosecuted as a 

war crime and a crime against humanity, and the United Nations Security Council, 

with leadership from the United States, passed a resolution in 2008 expressing its 

willingness to ‘‘adopt appropriate steps’’ to address widespread or systematic sexual 

violence. Security Council Resolution 1820 urges all parties to conflicts to provide 

sustainable assistance to victims of sexual violence in armed conflict and post-conflict situations. However, rape during and after war continues to terrorize women 

and girls, and impunity for these crimes is the norm. Most often survivors receive 

neither justice nor services, including comprehensive post-rape medical care. 

In addition to sexual violence, Human Rights Watch has documented multiple 

abuses affecting women in war, including forced displacement; the targeting and 

punishment of women because of their own activism or activism by male relatives; 

the drive towards earlier, forced and child marriages because of instability and a 

lack of security for girls and younger women; an increase in domestic violence and 

sexual violence committed by civilians; lack of access to food, shelter and health 

care; the interruption of education; and, sexual exploitation and trafficking, to name 

but a few. When resources are mobilized to address sexual violence in conflict, they 

must also be deployed to address the full range of violations against women’s and 

girls’ rights that occur during and after conflict. 

Lastly, women and girls may face specific and additional challenges to accessing 

education during conflict. In armed conflicts worldwide, students, teachers, and 

schools have been deliberately targeted. In some instances, female students and 

teachers and schools that educate girls and women are singled out. Armed groups 

have attacked, killed, and abducted female students because of opposition to girls 

and 4 women receiving an education, or in opposition to adolescent girls and women 

receiving an education alongside boys and men. In addition, since 2005, government 

armed forces and non-state armed groups have occupied and used schools and universities for military purposes in at least 23 countries with armed conflict. The use 

of schools for military purposes endangers students’ and teachers’ safety as well as 

their education. Girls studying alongside soldiers inside their schools may be sexually harassed, abused, and raped. Parents of girls are often particularly unwilling 

to send their girls to schools that are being occupied out of real or perceived concerns about such risks. Activities such as soldiers using school toilet facilities and 

excluding adolescent girls from using them also negatively affect girls’ attendance 

and education. 

Violence against women and girls with disabilities 

Women and girls with disabilities who suffer gender-based violence face distinctive barriers to accessing gender-based and sexual violence prevention programs, 

post-violence medical care, and the justice system because of limitations in physical 

mobility, communication barriers, and isolation. These barriers leave them vulnerable to abuse, including physical and sexual violence. 

In northern Uganda, for example, Human Rights Watch documented sexual violence against women with disabilities and found that more than one-third of 64 

women with disabilities interviewed had experienced sexual or gender-based violence, often at the hands of relatives. Women with disabilities have a greater chance 

of being raped because abusers perceive them as less able to defend themselves or 

demand justice for violence. For women with disabilities, the process of reporting 

violence may be more difficult because of limited access, such as when limited mobility impedes their ability to reach justice institutions or when such institutions 

lack sign language interpreters. Several women with disabilities explained to 

Human Rights Watch how their efforts to seek justice for such crimes had failed. 

Because of the stigma already associated with disability and the stigma associated 

with rape, women with disabilities have enormous difficulty reporting incidents of 

sexual violence to the local authorities. 

Women and girls with disabilities also face many challenges in accessing reproductive and sexual health services, which may only be exacerbated if they are a victim of gender-based violence. In many countries, women with disabilities face ignorance, discrimination and verbal abuse from healthcare personnel. 

For example, our research in northern Uganda showed that women with disabilities who survive rape find it especially difficult to get post-exposure prophylaxis 

57 

and other necessary treatment, such as emergency contraception, because of physically inaccessible transportation and healthcare facilities, as well as lack of confidentiality due to deaf women’s need to bring family members as sign language interpreters.4 

Emergency shelters for survivors of domestic violence are inaccessible to women 

with disabilities in many countries. In Turkey, Human Rights Watch researched the 

response to domestic violence in six cities, and found that none of these locations 

had domestic violence shelters (state or private) that could accommodate women 

with physical disabilities. 

Women human rights defenders 

In order to do our work effectively, Human Rights Watch collaborates closely with 

women and groups worldwide who fight for the rights of women. All human rights 

defenders may face risks, but we have seen firsthand that women defenders suffer 

additional threats and unique obstacles because they are women. The actions taken 

by governments are at times insufficient to address the gendered nature of risks 

and assaults. And even worse, we have documented examples where governments 

themselves target women human rights defenders. 

Human Rights Watch has documented various abuses against women human 

rights defenders: physical attacks, hand-delivered threats, terrifying phone calls, 

sexual harassment, rape and threats against children of activists-all creating a 

chilling environment in an effort to silence these women. Often, no one is held accountable, and sufficient protection measures for these women are rare. 

In some contexts, governments themselves target, arrest, and assault women because of their activism for women’s rights. Human Rights Watch has documented 

sexual harassment and attacks on women by government forces for demonstrating 

in public. And, in some cases, women and girls have been arrested and abused by 

their male relatives because of their activism. 

Many Human Rights Watch researchers have seen personally the tremendous toll 

that human rights work takes on women working at the grassroots level to seek justice for abused women, in particular victims of sexual violence. The women defenders I have worked with have been raped multiple times for their activism, have had 

their children threatened or abused, or have had to flee their homes. In one particularly difficult case, the stress of continuous threats led one woman defender to take 

her own life. I cannot imagine holding a hearing on the issue of combating violence 

against women without reflecting on the unmatched sacrifice and bravery of women 

human rights defenders around the world who are waging the difficult and daily 

fight to end violence in their own communities. 

Recommendations 

Human Rights Watch welcomes the global call to action raised by the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, 

Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women’s Issues. Combatting violence 

against women requires a global effort to end abuses against women and girls. For 

years, Human Rights Watch has called for U.S. ratification of the Convention on the 

Elimination of All Violence against Women. We renew that call, and are disappointed that it appears unlikely that there are sufficient votes necessary for ratification. We will continue to ask for the ratification. However, as fundamental first 

steps, Human Rights Watch recommends that the U.S. Senate: 

• Pass the bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act, S. 2307. 

• Request that the Secretary of State provide an update regarding the development and implementation of the multi-year and multi-sectoral strategy to end 

child marriage, as outlined in the domestic Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act passed in March 2013. 

• Press the administration to provide leadership at the U.N. Security Council for 

following up on its resolutions related to women, peace and security. 

• Call on the administration to provide public information regarding its progress 

in implementing the December 2011 U.S. National Action Plan on Women, 

Peace and Security and the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to GenderBased Violence Globally, including lessons learned and best practices. 

• Ensure that U.S. funding for services to victims of violence includes comprehensive post-rape medical care. 

• Urge the administration to show leadership in the global negotiations around 

the post-2015 sustainable development goals and push for the inclusion of a 

strong goal on gender equality and women’s rights, including targets related to 

ending gender-based violence, ending child marriage, and ending all forms of 

discrimination against women, all with clear target dates. 

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• Strengthen the U.S. commitment to addressing accountability and justice for 

sexual violence in conflict by developing relevant benchmarks for all U.S. assistance related to security sector reform, such as visible and clearly defined efforts 

from the recipient government to investigate and prosecute serious violations of 

international humanitarian law. This entails prosecuting individuals who were 

criminally liable because they ordered such crimes or who as a matter of command responsibility failed to prevent or punish them. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY DR. NANCY OKAIL, 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TAHRIR INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY

To the Honorable Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, Ranking Member Rand Paul, and 

Members of the Subcommittee: 

Thank you for convening this important hearing to examine the growing threats 

to safety and security of women around the world. The Tahrir Institute for Middle 

East Policy is very grateful, Madam Chairwoman, for your many efforts to strengthen protections for women globally through engagement with both U.S. officials and 

our international partners at the United Nations and around the world. It is an 

honor to submit my testimony before the first congressional subcommittee specifically charged with addressing global women’s issues. 

Efforts to address gender inequality over the last several decades have resulted 

in considerable advancements in women’s rights. In that time, the international 

community has embraced increased international legal protections for women and 

girls, including, notably, the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 

Discrimination against Women, which has been ratified or acceded to by nearly 

every U.N. member state (although, regrettably, not the United States). Additionally, the constitutions of more than 130 countries now guarantee gender equality, 

and more than 115 countries outlaw sexual harassment and gender violence. 

Despite these important advances, as the United Nations said nearly 20 years 

ago, ‘‘no society treats its women as well as its men.’’ Unfortunately, that remains 

as true today as it was then. Much more work remains to be done to combat violence and discrimination against women around the world, particularly in the Middle East. As we have seen in Egypt, women continue to be subordinated by a society 

that embraces patriarchal social norms and diminishes or ignores the daily sexual 

harassment and increasingly frequent mass sexual violence perpetrated against 

women. The failure by the government of Egypt to adequately enforce its domestic 

and international legal obligations to protect women has contributed to a culture of 

impunity that severely undermines efforts to achieve gender parity in Egypt. 

I am grateful for the opportunity, Madam Chairwoman, to join your global call 

to action to address these problems, and hope that the following assessments and 

recommendations will be valuable in reversing this very disturbing trend. 

Discrimination and violence against women and girls in Egypt 

Gender inequality 

The problem of gender inequality in Egypt is one that affects all aspects of daily 

social, political, and economic life for women. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2013 Gender Gap Index, which measures the gap between men and women 

across four categories, Egypt ranks 125 overall out of 136 countries, putting only 

a few paces ahead of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Yemen. These rankings factor 

into account women’s economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Comparatively, the Middle 

East ranks last among other regions in closing the gender gap. The region has only 

closed 59 percent of the gender gap between men and women (by comparison, North 

America has closed 74 percent of its gender gap). 

The wide gender gap between men and women in Egypt is largely attributable 

to social norms: Egyptian society is in many ways patriarchal, and the family is considered to be the main unit of society. As a result, women’s primary role in society 

is widely viewed to serve a caretaker function, although many women are informally 

employed. Men, meanwhile, are regarded as the breadwinner and head of the family. 

Unfortunately, this social perception of a woman’s place in society was recently 

echoed in remarks made by then-candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who called upon 

to women to ‘‘encourage [their] husbands and children to work,’’ reflecting the deeply-ingrained view that a woman’s proper place is at home. Sisi went on to say that 

women should help to save electricity by ‘‘going around the house and turning off 

the lights,’’ and referred to women as the ‘‘calm, soft, and rational voice in the 

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house′′—in both instances overtly suggesting that women belong at home, rather 

than in the workforce. 

This social structure may explain why the literacy rate for women remains far 

below that of men. The 2013 Gender Gap Index reports that the female literacy rate 

in Egypt only stands at 66 percent, compared with 82 percent for males. According 

to one woman, ‘‘reading doesn’t make a woman socially acceptable or useful.’’ Indeed, while education rates for girls and boys are reported to be virtually the same 

for primary and tertiary education levels, in many rural areas—where girls are 

sometimes not even registered with the state after being born—an estimated 80 percent of girls do not attend school. 

Low literacy rates and social expectations of women keep them from becoming 

contributing members of the labor market. According to the 2013 Gender Gap Index, 

women’s labor force participation in Egypt only stands at 25 percent, compared with 

78 percent for men. These rates remain largely unchanged from 2011, when, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), only 22 percent of Egyptian women aged 

15 and above were actively engaged in the labor market by either working or looking for work, compared with 75 percent of Egyptian men. By comparison, the global 

labor participation rate for women was 52 percent in 2011. 

Women’s low labor force participation helps to perpetuate the social expectation 

that women will stay at home, which may in turn help to explain why women’s political empowerment in Egypt is also low as compared with international rates. The 

2013 Gender Gap Index found that only 12 percent of Egypt’s ministers and 2 percent of its parliamentarians are female. Globally, women make up more than 20 

percent of national parliaments, nearly 6 percent of the world’s heads of state, and 

close to 8 percent of heads of government, putting Egypt behind the international 

average. 

We have seen some recent efforts to improve women’s political participation in 

Egypt. An earlier-proposed version of Egypt’s parliamentary elections law would 

have required that 24 seats in Egypt’s new parliament (4 percent of the 603 total 

number of seats) be set aside for women. A recently-revised law now sets aside 40 

seats for women, or 6 percent. While these rates would mark an improvement in 

women’s parliamentary representation over last year’s 2 percent rate, they still fall 

far below the international average, and of course do not reflect the fact that women 

make up nearly half of Egypt’s population. By keeping women out of politics in 

Egypt, they are denied opportunities to strengthen legal protections and participate 

in decision-making structures that could help to elevate the status of women and 

girls. 

Female genital mutilation 

Discrimination and violence against women in Egypt is a problem that often begins during girlhood. Patriarchal social stigmas surrounding women and their role 

in society have resulted in their being cast as symbolic representatives of the family’s ‘‘honor.’’ As a result, the violation of a woman’s sexual purity—be it through 

rape, assault, sexual promiscuity, or some other offense—is considered a violation 

of a family’s honor. 

In order to reduce a woman’s sexual desire and maintain her purity and faithfulness, the parents of young girls often subject their daughters to female genital mutilation (FGM), which involves the circumcision of a girl’s clitoris. Indeed, the practice 

has no effect on sexual desire, but instead makes sex painful for women. According 

to UNCEF, 91 percent of women in Egypt between the ages of 15 and 49 have been 

subjected to FGM. The practice confers absolutely no medical benefit, and is instead 

a violation of a child’s right to health, security, physical dignity, and right to be free 

from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as well as the right to life 

(where cases result in death). 

The crime has been outlawed since 2008 but the FGM ban has never been enforced in the courts until now, after one young girl died last year following a botched 

FGM procedure. The incident has led to the country’s first prosecution of the crime. 

The crime is punishable by a prison term of anywhere from three months to two 

years, and a fine of up to EGP 5,000 (U.S. $700). 

Sexual harassment and violence 

The problem of sexual harassment and violence against women are, regrettably, 

common occurrences in Egypt, and have been for years. According to a 2013 study 

released by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment 

of Women (U.N. Women report), 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced 

some form of sexual harassment, ranging from verbal remarks to physical touching. 

The majority of women interviewed for the study said that harassment occurs regardless of attire, looks, age, marital status, or economic class. Likewise, violence 

60 

against women in Egypt is an endemic problem that led to Egypt being labeled the 

‘‘worst Arab state for women’’ last year. (Other factors surveyed included women’s 

status within the family, reproductive rights, and women’s political and economic 

participation. 

Unfortunately, since the start of Egypt’s revolution three years ago, reports of 

harassment and violence against women has gone up as more and more women occupy public spaces. 

According to several Egyptian non-governmental organizations, more than 500 

sexual violence survivors experienced assaults between February 2011 and January 

2014. A separate group—Shoft Taharosh (‘‘I Saw Harassment’’)—reportedly documented 730 cases of sexual harassment in October 2012, only three of which were 

reported to the police. 

Several of the more violent attacks against women have gained worldwide attention. The international community reacted with outrage, for instance, to the violent 

mob assault in February 2011 against CBS reporter Lara Logan, who was covering 

protests that led to the downfall of former President Hosni Mubarak, and to reports 

last July that more than 150 counts of sexual mob attacks had occurred in Tahrir 

Square during protests that led to the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi. 

The international community was shocked once again when, two weeks ago, violent mobs sexually assaulted several women in Tahrir Square during celebrations 

of Mr. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s presidential election. The imagery of dozens of men 

sexually assaulting a lone woman in a video of one of the attacks incited strong 

emotional reactions among Egyptians as well, which ranged from summary condemnation of the incident to a dismissal of the attack as the product of excessive 

‘‘celebration.’’ Blame was ascribed to the Muslim Brotherhood, accused of committing the violence in an attempt to ruin Sisi’s celebration, as well as to the victims 

themselves. 

In his response to the incident, even President Sisi failed to adequately address 

the cause of such violence. In a public apology to the victim, whom President Sisi 

visited in the hospital—along with a spray of television cameras to capture the moment—he remarked that ‘‘our honor is being violated on the streets.’’ Overlooked in 

his remarks is the fact that it is not Egypt’s honor that is being violated, but women’s bodies and sense of human dignity. 

President Sisi’s public acknowledgement of this problem is laudable, but his 

choice of words is regrettable, because it is precisely this concept of ‘‘honor’’ that 

often discourages victims from reporting abuses them. A woman may be urged by 

her family or the police to keep quiet about the incident in order to avoid bringing 

shame upon the family or upon the victim—as if the victim was somehow complicit 

in her own attack. 

Indeed, the notion of personal or family honor is one of the reasons that women 

do not report abuses committed against them. According to the U.N. Women report, 

nearly 35 percent of women surveyed claimed that they did not report incidents of 

harassment to the police either because they feared for their reputation or for their 

family’s reaction. Both this notion of honor and the problem of victim-blaming are 

deeply entrenched in Egyptian culture. Often, female victims will be blamed for provoking the attacks because of the clothing or makeup they wear. This harmful discourse places the blame for such attacks on the victim, releasing the perpetrators 

from culpability. 

In the same report, another 23 percent of women said that they failed to report 

the incident because they did not know that harassment was illegal. It is incredible 

to think that the harassment of women in Egypt is so common, systematic, and undisciplined that nearly a quarter of Egyptian women do not even know that it is 

a crime and that they have a right to be free from such abuse. 

Also telling of the problems intrinsic in Egypt’s legal and judicial system is the 

fact that almost 10 percent of women in the survey said that they feared they would 

be harassed by the police if they tried to report the abuse. Those fears are not unfounded: among women who had reported harassment, 5 percent said that they were 

harassed by police when they tried to file a complaint, while nearly 14 percent said 

that the police scolded and mocked them. 

The state’s complicity in perpetuating this violence goes beyond simply discouraging women from filing complaints: security and police forces also perpetrate sexual violence against women, with impunity. In early 2011, allegations surfaced that 

the military had conducted so-called ‘‘virginity tests’’ against female detainees. According to remarks made by then-General al-Sisi, who defended the tests, the military needed to determine whether the women were virgins in order to protect the 

military from rape allegations—insidiously implying that only virgins can be raped. 

Of course, abuses by the military and police forces against women did not end there. 

Continued abuses produced protests against law enforcement officers in late 2011 

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and mid-2012, further confirming the perception that reporting such crimes to institutions that abet them is a lost cause. 

Assessment of recent commitments by the government of Egypt to address violence 

Legal reforms 

Until recently, the crime of sexual harassment was not specifically defined under 

Egyptian law. That changed on June 5, 2014, when, just days before leaving office, 

former interim President Adly Mansour issued Decree No. 50 of 2014 which amends 

Egypt’s penal code to define the crimes of harassment and sexual harassment, and 

imposes increased penalties for certain violations. 

According to the amendments, harassment is now defined as when one ‘‘approaches another person in a public, private, or familiar place with sexual or suggestive objects, suggestions, or insinuations, be it by allusion, word, or action in any 

way, including wired and wireless communication networks.’’ Harassment is punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than six months or a fine of EGP 3,000 

(about U.S. $419). Repeat offenders may be punished by a prison term of one year 

and the fine to EGP 5,000–10,000 (about U.S. $700–1,400). 

The behavior defined above is considered sexual harassment if done ‘‘with the 

purpose of the criminal receiving benefit of a sexual nature from the victim.’’ The 

crime is punishable by a minimum prison term of one year and a fine of EGP 

10,000–20,000 (about U.S. $1,400–2,800). Any individual who is in a position of authority over the victim ‘‘through employment, family or education,’’ or if ‘‘the crime 

was committed by two or more people, or at least one of the offenders is armed with 

a weapon,’’ will be punished with a term of imprisonment of between two and five 

years and a fine of EGP 20,000–50,000. 

The penal code defines rape as ‘‘sexual intercourse with a female without her consent.’’ The penalty for rape is life in prison, but in cases where the victim is a minor 

or the rapist has a position of employment, familial, or educational authority over 

the victim, the penalty can include capital punishment. 

National strategy 

Last week, newly-elected President Sisi proposed additional measures to combat 

the problem of sexual violence in response to the violent sexual assaults against 

women in Tahrir Square. Among other things, President Sisi ordered the formation 

of a ministerial committee that included representatives from the government, Muslim and Christian religious establishments, and civil society to identify ‘‘the underlying causes behind the proliferation of this phenomenon and delineate a national 

strategy to address it.’’ 

On June 12, the committee announced its plan to tackle sexual harassment, which 

includes an increase in security presence in public squares; the creation of an ‘‘integrated security team’’ to combat sexual harassment and assault; an increase in police officers assigned to the interior ministry’s human rights sector to respond to 

sexual harassment and assault claims; implementing Egypt’s newly-amended sexual 

harassment provisions; researching the causes of such abuse to create a national 

strategy to combat it; amending school curricula to include lessons on equality and 

violence against women; and launching public education campaign during Ramadan. 

The plan also includes asking state hospitals to care for victims of sexual assaults 

(incredibly, one of the victims of the recent Tahrir Square assaults was turned away 

from several public hospitals before being admitted to a private one). 

Assessment 

Many of these proposals by the government of Egypt to tackle the problem of sexual assault against women are laudable, and could mark the turning page for 

Egypt—if the government follows through on its commitments. At the same time, 

some of these proposals do not go far enough in addressing the problem and need 

to be reconsidered. 

The recent amendments to Egypt’s penal code are a step in the right direction, 

but certain provisions still make it difficult to prosecute sexual harassment. For instance, the crime of sexual harassment requires the perpetrator to have intended 

to receive sexual gratification from the victim. A defendant need only claim that his 

actions were accidental or not intended to be harmful, and the burden of proof thus 

shifts to the prosecutor—and thereby, the victim—to prove the defendant’s culpability. 

Rather than making it all but impossible for victims to prove that they were 

harmed, the focus of the law in punishing sexual harassment should instead be on 

the abuse committed and its effect on the victim, rather than the intent of the perpetrator. The government should re-amend this provision to eliminate the burdensome intent requirement. 

62 

Other provisions of the penal code also place an inordinate burden upon the victim in proving her victimization. The amendments to the penal code, for example, 

did not eliminate the existing requirement that a victim of sexual harassment bring 

her harasser and two witnesses to the police station in order to file a claim. This 

provision effectively perpetuates patriarchal norms by suggesting that the victim’s 

word is not good enough to be taken at face value. 

The law should be amended to eliminate the requirement that the victim furnish 

the perpetrator and witnesses. The responsibility of procuring witness statements 

and interviewing the accused should rightly fall upon the police, who are charged 

with enforcing the law. Police, for their part, should be trained and equipped to 

properly investigate allegations of sexual harassment and violence. 

Also problematic in the penal code is the definition of rape, which only criminalizes ‘‘sexual intercourse with a female without her consent.’’ The law fails to account 

for rape by other means, including anal and oral penetration, and also only criminalizes intercourse, which does not include penetration by other body parts or instruments. Unfortunately, many victims of gang rapes have been assaulted with 

sharp objects and fingers, which are not covered under the rape law. Moreover, the 

law only considers women to be the plausible victims of rape, completely excluding 

male victims, many of whom are victimized by police forces in prison. 

The penal code should be amended to more broadly define rape as the vaginal, 

anal, or oral penetration of a male or female by intercourse, other body parts, or 

instruments, without consent or in coercive circumstances that negate consent. 

The enactment of improved laws is an important first step in trying to tackle the 

sexual harassment epidemic facing Egypt, but the law is only a useful tool in combating these crimes if it is properly enforced, and there we see additional problems. 

Police are sometimes complicit in attacks against women, and often lack the training and capacity to properly process such complaints. 

While an increased security presence in public squares may, theoretically, help to 

deter sexual violence against women, police are also part of the problem. According 

to the U.N. Women report, 17 percent of reported cases of sexual harassment are 

perpetrated by police and security officers. Without a commitment by the government to hold officers accountable for abuse, an increased police presence may only 

exacerbate the problem. 

The government must fully acknowledge that the extent of this problem goes beyond private actors and includes the government itself. Egypt must dedicate itself 

to holding its own officials accountable for violating the same laws they are responsible for enforcing. 

Police are not the only perpetrators of sexual abuse who escape with impunity. 

Lax law enforcement procedures and corrupt police practices have led to deeply 

troubling trends in the miscarriage of justice, as reflected by the many accounts of 

arbitrary arrests and forced disappearances in Egypt. It is not uncommon for innocent individuals to be charged with crimes that they did not commit, either because 

the prosecutions are pursued as a form of retribution against the defendant or his 

family, or because police are pressured to close out cases. In the latter instance, police often arbitrarily arrest young men, typically from poorer neighborhoods, who 

are less likely to have the resources or connections to avoid arbitrary arrest or detention. 

This form of miscarriage of justice has led some to question whether the newlyamended sexual harassment laws will be appropriately enforced, or whether enforcement will only be selectively directed at certain individuals. It is not an absurd notion to consider, given that the government has also attempted to silence its critics 

by routinely targeting opposition leaders, activists, NGO workers, and journalists 

for malicious prosecutions based on fabricated charges. 

While we applaud plans by the government to increase security sector resources 

to respond to sexual crimes, given the prevalence of lax investigatory and enforcement procedures, the government must ensure that all police officers are properly 

equipped to address sexual abuse claims and are properly trained in due process 

standards in order to avoid miscarriages of justice. 

Other measures recently announced by the government to address this issue include researching the causes of sexual abuse to create a national strategy to combat 

it; amending school curricula to include lessons on equality and violence against 

women; and launching a public education campaign on sexual harassment. 

All of these proposals are commendable, but to be successful and have buy-in from 

relevant stakeholders, their implementation must include input from civil society actors, including women’s and human rights groups, victim treatment centers, survivors’ groups, educators, religious leaders, and other important actors. 

Moreover, although we likely will not know the details of the national strategy 

for several weeks or longer, any plan proposed by the government should adopt 

63 

measures that ensure adequate medical and psychological support for victims of sexual assault. These measures should address victim confidentiality, the provision of 

timely treatment, support for rehabilitation and recovery, referrals to other services. 

Police and medical officials should receive training on these measures. 

Recommendations for the U.S. Government 

While the Egyptian government has taken commendable steps in addressing the 

issue through the recent ratification of a new law criminalizing sexual harassment, 

there is much left to accomplish. As a strategic ally to Egypt, the United States government can play an important role in encouraging Egyptian leaders to take appropriate measures, as described above, to meaningfully address systemic discrimination and violence against women. The U.S. government can also ensure that adequate funding is provided for programs that advance these goals. 

• Engage with Egyptian government leaders and encourage them to adopt the 

measures outlined above to ensure that Egypt’s legal protections and social 

norms more fully protect the rights of women and girls; 

• Ensure that U.S. funding to Egypt supports programs that will strengthen 

Egypt’s public education and awareness-raising efforts on the topics of equality 

and violence against women, and also support public education programs and 

campaigns on the topic of female genital mutilation; 

• Continue to provide funding that supports women’s and girls’ education, and 

work with Egyptian leaders to ensure that all girls—particularly those living 

in rural areas—are properly registered so that they can receive an education; 

• Continue to support civil society groups in Egypt that are working to address 

the problems of discrimination and violence against women, and encourage the 

government of Egypt to engage and collaborate more directly with civil society 

leaders on these issues; and 

• Encourage Egyptian leaders to consider revising the parliamentary elections 

law to allow for greater female representation in Egypt’s parliament, and support U.S. aid programs that empower women to become more politically engaged. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Thank you Chair Boxer, Senator Paul, and to the members of the Committee, for 

holding this important hearing and for your leadership in helping to end gender 

based violence globally. 

Amnesty International U.S is pleased to testify at this critical and timely hearing. 

Amnesty International’s testimony will focus on the international human rights 

framework that exists to address gender-based violence, and offer recommendations 

on concrete actions that the United States Government can take to help prevent, 

respond, and ultimately end the violence. 

Our organization’s campaigns to end gender-based violence around the world have 

produced hundreds of reports documenting these human rights abuses; offered detailed recommendations for action by governments, non-state actors, and international organizations; and clearly illustrated the connection between this violence 

and other violations of human rights around the world. 

Violence against women takes many forms, including rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage, and acid attacks to name a few. 

It’s a global human rights crisis that exacerbates instability and insecurity around 

the world. 

But is also an issue that affects individual women intimately. United Nations statistics show that one in three women will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during their lifetime. A shocking number and potentially a vast 

underestimation of the true number of women affected. 

Over the last 25 years, violence against women has increasingly been understood 

and accepted as a human rights issue. Whereas violence was previously dismissed 

as an unpreventable consequence of war, cultural norm, or simply a private matter, 

the international community has acknowledged that women and girls often are targets of abuse because of their gender—whether in conflict, where rape is often used 

as a weapon of war, in communities and schools, or in the home where violence occurs within the family. These crimes are now recognized as human rights abuses 

that governments must prevent, prohibit and punish. 

Amnesty International has recommended four U.S. policy initiatives which will 

make a significant impact in the work to end gender-based violence globally. These 

are: 

64 

• Passage of the International Violence Against Women Act; 

• Passage of the Women, Peace and Security Act; 

• U.S. promotion of reform of laws and policies that discriminate against women 

and girls, and; 

• U.S. ratification of the Women’s Treaty, officially known as the Convention on 

the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 

We see progress on two of our past recommendations to Congress—the promulgation of both a U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally and a U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. But much 

work remains to be done. 

Every day, women and girls around the world are threatened, beaten, raped, mutilated, and killed with impunity. Worldwide, nearly one billion women will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, whether at the hands of 

family members, government security forces, or armed groups. 

Today, what unites women internationally—transcending class, race, culture, religion, nationality and ethnic origin—are violations of their fundamental human 

rights, and their persistent efforts to claim those rights. 

Human rights framework 

The rights of all women as human beings, around the world, were first and most 

fundamentally recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). 

Adopted in 1948 by the U.N. General Assembly, the UDHR states in clear and simple terms rights that belong equally to all people in all nations, ‘‘without distinction 

of any kind such as race, color, sex, language . . . or any other status.’’ 

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against 

Women is the first and only international treaty to comprehensively address women’s rights within political, cultural, economic, social and family spheres. Adopted 

by the U.N. in 1979, CEDAW provides an international standard for protecting and 

promoting women’s human rights and is often referred to as a ‘‘Bill of Rights’’ for 

women. 

The 1993 U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women 

(DEVAW) sets forth ways in which governments should act to prevent violence, and 

to protect and defend women’s rights. DEVAW calls on states to ‘‘exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish 

acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the state or 

by private persons.′′ 

The Geneva Conventions designate many acts of sexual violence—including rape, 

enforced prostitution, sexual slavery, and sexual mutilation—as war crimes, and 

grave breaches of the Conventions. 

The U.N. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children defines human trafficking as the illegal recruitment, 

sale, transport, receiving of, and/or harboring of human beings through force, deceit, 

coercion or abduction for the purpose of all forms of forced labor and servitude (Article 3(a)). Many cases of sexual violence during armed conflicts occur under conditions of slavery. 

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the first international 

treaty to expressly recognize a broad spectrum of sexual and gender-based violence 

as constituting genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and is the first 

time that sexual slavery and trafficking have been expressly recognized as crimes 

against humanity in an international treaty. The majority of cases that have been 

brought before the ICC to date involve gender-based violence. 

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 and subsequent related resolutions emphasize the responsibility of all states to put an end to impunity and to prosecute those 

responsible for war crimes involving sexual and other violence against women. It 

calls for an increase in the participation of women at decisionmaking levels in conflict resolution and peace processes. It also calls for the protection of human rights 

of women and girls during the reconstruction process, particularly as they relate to 

the constitution, the electoral system, the police, and the judiciary. Six subsequent 

resolutions have been passed since 1325 that further aim to protect women and girls 

from conflict-related sexual violence and promote their role in the peacemaking 

process. 

Violations of women’s human rights 

The ways in which women experience human rights abuses are unique. While 

human rights are understood as the rights that everyone has by virtue of their humanity, the assumption that all humans have the same experiences and needs is 

particularly problematic for women. 

65 

Historically, states have assumed responsibility for human rights violations only 

when state agents or officials were the perpetrators, and certain forms of violence 

against women by state agents have been acknowledged as torture. However, 

women more often face abuses from non-state actors, such as their employers, partners, husbands, families, friends and community members. It is critical to note that 

whether abuses against women are committed by state or non-state actors, in the 

public or private spheres, the state is obliged to condemn, prevent and punish all 

acts of violence against women and to take measures to empower women. 

When international law is applied without an understanding of the state’s responsibility for abuses committed by private actors, women are denied an essential part 

of the protection that the human rights system is supposed to provide. When the 

state dismisses the majority of violence against women as private or domestic matters, thereby allowing this violence to continue, it sends a clear message that violence against women is condoned. 

Human rights abuses against women are often complicated by further discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, 

caste, culture, or age. The type and prevalence of violence and discrimination that 

women experience are often determined by how their gender interacts with these 

and other factors. 

In the case of women’s human rights, the principle of universality continues to 

be challenged. Some justify violations of women’s human rights by placing precedence on cultural values and traditions, but this view ignores the fact that some 

practices and beliefs attributed to ‘‘culture’’ or ‘‘tradition’’ often shape women’s lives 

in a way that subordinates and discriminates against them. 

In fact, violence against women is rooted in a global culture that discriminates 

against women and denies them equal rights. Women today earn less than men, 

own less property than men, and have less access to education, employment, housing and health care. This global culture of discrimination denies women their 

human rights and legitimizes the violent appropriation of women’s bodies for individual gratification or political ends. By limiting the universality of the human 

rights of women, cultural values rooted in unequal power relations between women 

and men become justification for the systematic denial of civil, cultural, economic, 

political and social rights. 

States’ responsibilities in relation to women’s human rights 

Each of the human rights treaties, and the human rights framework as a whole, 

are essential for the realization of women’s full spectrum of rights. Whether abuses 

against women are committed by state or non-state actors, in the public or private 

spheres, the state is obliged to act. State obligations under international human 

rights law can be summarized under three categories: 

Respect: The state has an obligation to respect women’s human rights through its 

direct action, agents and structures of law. A state’s constitution must recognize 

equality between women and men in all spheres; state or official actors must be held 

accountable when they perpetrate violence against women; private actors who perpetrate violence against women must be prosecuted. 

Protect: The state has an obligation to protect women’s human rights. The state 

must take all necessary measures to prevent individuals or groups from violating 

the rights of each individual. As such, the state must take affirmative steps to prevent direct and indirect discrimination against women. Women must be fairly represented in government and have legal access to all forms of employment. 

Fulfill: The state is also required to fulfill the human rights of women by ensuring 

opportunities for individuals to obtain what they need and to provide that which 

cannot be secured by personal efforts. This obligation ranges from providing a 

healthy environment, clean water, food, housing and education, to creating the conditions necessary for women’s organizations to form and function. 

International law has developed the standard of due diligence as a way to measure whether a state has acted with sufficient effort to live up to its responsibilities 

to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. This standard has been explicitly incorporated into United Nations standards, such as the DEVAW, which says that states 

should ‘‘exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are 

perpetrated by the state or by private persons.’’ Increasingly, U.N. mechanisms 

monitoring the implementation of human rights treaties, the U.N. independent experts, and courts at the national and regional level are using this concept of due 

diligence as their measure for assessing the compliance of states with their obligations to protect bodily integrity. Any act of violence against women perpetrated in 

the public or private sphere whether by state or non-state actors invokes the due 

66 

diligence obligations of States to prevent, investigate, punish and provide compensation for all acts of violence. 

Violence against women will continue until those responsible are held accountable 

under domestic laws in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law. Factors contributing to impunity for crimes of violence against women 

are many, and include: 

• An overall climate of indifference towards many forms of violence; 

• Tacit acceptance of rape and other sexual violence as unavoidable; 

• Threats and reprisals against those who reveal abuses; 

• Laws granting amnesty to perpetrators as part of peacemaking ‘‘deals’’. 

Governments have a responsibility to ensure that violence against women is punished in accordance with international standards for fair trials, and to that end, that 

the judicial system in their country functions independently of the government, and 

that law enforcement, judicial officials, and security forces receive adequate training 

to prevent violence and assist survivors. Despite such obligations, many countries 

have discriminatory laws that make it difficult for women to access justice, or their 

laws are interpreted in such a way as to facilitate impunity. 

For example, when violence against women is committed in the context of armed 

conflict, national courts may lack jurisdiction over soldiers who are foreign nationals 

or it may be impossible to seek their extradition. The code of military law may not 

expressly address violence against women. 

What should the United States government do? 

Amnesty International U.S. urges the United States government to take four policy steps to help end violence against women globally. The United States should: 

Pass the International Violence Against Women Act, which will: 

• Make ending violence against women and girls a top diplomatic and foreign assistance priority for the United States by supporting and improving coordination of existing U.S. anti-gender-based violence efforts across the whole of government. 

• Support survivors, hold perpetrators accountable, and prevent gender-based violence. 

• Address violence against women and girls comprehensively and multi-sectorally 

by supporting health, legal, economic, education and humanitarian assistance 

sectors and incorporating violence prevention and response into such programs; 

• Codify and implement the U.S Strategy to Prevent and Respond to GenderBased Violence Globally, the first government-wide effort of its kind to address 

violence against women and girls globally across sectors, in five select countries 

which have a high incidence of violence against women; 

• Permanently authorize the Office of Global Women’s Issues in the State Department, as well as the position of the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s 

Issues, who is responsible for coordinating activities, policies, programs, and 

funding relating to gender integration and women’s empowerment internationally, including those intended to prevent and respond to violence against 

women; 

• Alleviate poverty and increase the cost effectiveness of foreign assistance by investing in women; 

• Prevent violence by transforming social norms about the acceptability of it by 

engaging men and boys and supporting public awareness programs to change 

attitudes that condone, and at times encourage, violence against women and 

girls, as well as men and boys, and will emphasize community-based solutions; 

• Enable the U.S. government to develop a faster and more efficient response to 

violence against women in humanitarian emergencies and conflict-related situations; and, 

• Build the effectiveness of overseas non-governmental organizations — particularly women’s non-governmental organizations—in addressing violence against 

women. 

The IVAWA provides a comprehensive approach to address these priorities within 

a human rights framework by enhancing the efficacy and efficiency of existing U.S. 

government programs that tackle gender-based violence. 

Pass the Women, Peace and Security Act which will: 

• Increase women’s meaningful inclusion in peace-building and conflict prevention 

processes; 

• Protect women and girls from gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict 

settings; 

• Ensure women and girls have equitable access to humanitarian assistance; 

67 

• Require the State Department and U.SID to report to Congress on progress 

under the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security to promote 

women’s participation in peace building and conflict prevention processes; 

• Ensure that each relevant U.S. government agency integrates women as equal 

partners into all efforts to prevent and mediate conflict, respond to humanitarian crises, promote and build peace and democracy, and rebuild post conflict; 

• Incorporate comprehensive training programs on women’s participation in peace 

and security matters for diplomatic, defense, and development personnel; and, 

• Require robust monitoring and evaluation of the impact of U.S. foreign assistance on women’s meaningful inclusion and participation and revise approaches 

to employ best practices. 

The Women, Peace and Security Act recognizes the untapped potential and significant value that women bring to the peacemaking table. Half of all peace agreements around the world fail within the first five years. One missing component to 

creating a lasting and sustainable peace is the inclusion of those who are disproportionately and uniquely affected by conflict: women. The Act requires the U.S. to promote the meaningful inclusion and participation of women in all peace processes 

that seek to prevent, alleviate or resolve armed conflict, which will increase the likelihood of successful conflict resolution. 

Promote reform of discriminatory law and policies 

The United States has a responsibility to press for legislative reform and to facilitate implementation of laws and policies that ensure women the same rights as 

men. This is especially the case in areas of property rights, access to employment, 

access to health services, and education for women and girls, as well as on laws relating to citizenship, the rights to enter into marriage willingly, and to have the 

same legal rights as men as parents of their children. 

The United States should provide assistance for legal reforms that promote and 

protect fulfillment of human rights for women and children, and facilitate contact 

and collaboration with international organizations, including the United Nations 

mechanisms, which can assist and advise legislatures on legal reforms and policy 

implementation to support women and children. The U.S. should also increase its 

training of foreign security forces on addressing violence against women in armed 

conflict and on military codes of conduct regarding sexual exploitation and abuse. 

Ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against 

Women 

CEDAW is a landmark international agreement that affirms fundamental human 

rights and equality for women around the world. It offers countries a practical blueprint to achieve progress for women and girls by calling on each ratifying country 

to overcome barriers to discrimination. 

Around the world, CEDAW has been used to reduce sex trafficking and domestic 

abuse; provide access to education and vocational training; guarantee the right to 

vote; ensure the ability to work and own a business without discrimination; improve 

maternal health care; end forced marriage and child marriage; and ensure inheritance rights. 

CEDAW and its Optional Protocol remain the only international treaties devoted 

to the rights of women. Partly due to the success of CEDAW, there have been significant advances in women’s rights in the more than thirty years since CEDAW 

was adopted, although much remains to be done. The treaty has been ratified or 

acceded to by 187 countries, making it second only to the Convention on the Rights 

of the Child in terms of universal acceptance. 

Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1979, CEDAW obliges states parties to 

undertake legislative, administrative and practical measures to eliminate discrimination against women, in order to enable women to enjoy civil and political, as well 

as economic, social and cultural rights, as enshrined in the treaty. States parties 

are required to condemn discrimination against women, devise policies for its elimination and take steps to ensure the full development and advancement of women. 

States parties undertake to submit reports to the Committee on the Elimination 

of Discrimination against Women at least every four years. The review of a state 

party report provides an opportunity for national-level review of implementation 

and the identification of obstacles which impede the enjoyment of the rights protected by CEDAW. The outcome of these reviews, as contained in the concluding 

comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 

provide an important benchmark for measuring present compliance and future 

progress for the state party, civil society and different U.N. actors seeking to integrate them into country-based initiatives. 

68 

CEDAW is a tool that women around the world are using effectively to bring 

about change in their conditions. CEDAW ratification has encouraged the development of citizenship rights in Botswana and Japan, inheritance rights in Tanzania, 

and property rights and political participation in Costa Rica. CEDAW has fostered 

development of domestic violence laws in Turkey, Nepal, South Africa, and South 

Korea and anti-trafficking laws in Ukraine and Moldova. 

The ratification of human rights treaties is a basic but essential step which every 

government can take to demonstrate its commitment to protecting human rights. 

When a government becomes a party to international human rights treaties, it affirms to the international community its determination to respect the dignity and 

worth of the human person. 

Acceptance of international obligations helps to establish more durable commitments in the field of human rights protection. Adherence to these instruments not 

only invigorates domestic efforts at implementation but also preserves the achievements of today’s governments against retrogression by those of tomorrow. Adherence 

by all states to these important instruments would be a major step forward in the 

further development and strengthening of international human rights protection for 

the benefit of all people. 

The United States has a legacy of promotion and defense of human rights. However, the United States is one of only seven countries that have not yet ratified 

CEDAW, including Iran, South Sudan, Somalia, Palau, and Tonga. As such, the 

United States has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the Western 

Hemisphere and the only industrialized democracy that has not ratified this treaty. 

The U.S. Government’s failure to ratify serves as a disincentive for other governments to uphold CEDAW’s mandate and their obligations under it to end discrimination against women. 

Ratification of CEDAW would strengthen the United States as a global leader in 

standing up for women and girls and provide a path for the full realization of women’s human rights globally. With U.S. ratification, CEDAW would become a much 

stronger instrument in support of women’s struggles to achieve the full realization 

of their human rights. Amnesty International believes that ratification would be a 

critical demonstration of the U.S. government’s commitment to women’s equal protection and equality of treatment before the law. 

Amnesty International strongly urges the Senate to use this hearing as a meaningful step in the ratification of CEDAW. In addition, we urge the Senate to not 

attach any limiting interpretations, declarations and reservations to the ratification 

of CEDAW and to ensure that all U.S. laws, policies and practices conform to the 

principles espoused in CEDAW. 

The abduction of over almost 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria provides us with a poignant example of why these recommendations are necessary. 

In April, Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of girls from their school in the town 

of Chibok. Boko Haram is an Islamist armed group that has waged a brutal insurgency in northeast Nigeria, carrying out similar abductions on a smaller scale in 

the past. Nearly two months later, the majority of the girls remain in captivity, and 

it is feared that the girls may face sexual violence or trafficking. 

A life free from violence is a fundamental human right. Yet nearly a billion 

women around the world will not have that freedom. 

To affect real change in the lives of women globally, action is needed now, and 

the United States must continue to be a leader on this issue by ratifying CEDAW 

and by passing legislation such as the International Violence Against Women Act 

and the Women, Peace and Security Act. 

Chair Boxer, Senator Paul, and members of the Committee, on behalf of the abducted Nigerian schoolgirls and the nearly one billion women around the world who 

have experienced gender-based violence, Amnesty International U.S thanks you for 

holding this important hearing and urges you to take swift action. 

Thank you. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

BY SECOND CHANCE EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

We, Second Chance Employment Services, wish to thank Chair Barbara Boxer 

and Ranking Member Rand Paul of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on 

International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global 

Women’s Issues for convening this hearing on ‘‘Combating Violence and Discrimination Against Women: A Global Call to Action.’’ We call on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the U.S. Senate to move forward to pass the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) and to ratify CEDAW in this Congress. These 

69 

tools will give the United States greater clout to urge other countries to take all 

necessary steps to combat discrimination and violence against women and girls. 

Gender-based violence (GBV) is the most widespread human rights violation in 

every part of the world. The well-documented cases of using rape as a weapon of 

war in the Congo, acid attacks on the faces of girls going to school in Afghanistan, 

the 2012 shooting of Pakistani education and women’s rights activist, Malala 

Yousafzai, by the Taliban, and the recent horrific sexual assaults and hanging of 

girls and young women in India are only the most visible evidence of pervasive violence against women and girls. Unfortunately, intimate partner violence, often less 

visible, is also an epidemic, affecting 35 percent of women globally every year. 

Women have organized campaigns calling on their governments not only to adopt 

laws to provide services and safety for women and their children, bring perpetrators 

of violence to justice, educate the public, and engage boys and men, but also to address the underlying causes of discrimination and gender inequalities. 

In addressing violence against women, many countries have been aided by the 

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 

(CEDAW), also known as the women’s equality treaty. CEDAW considers genderbased violence—that is, violence directed at women and girls just because they are 

female—to be a form of discrimination under the Convention, because such violence 

impairs or nullifies women’s full enjoyment of their basic human rights. 

CEDAW offers countries a practical blueprint to achieve progress for women and 

girls by calling on each ratifying country to overcome barriers to discrimination. For 

example, when activists in Afghanistan proposed the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, they looked to CEDAW as a model to guide their approach. 

The South Korean Women’s Movements Against Gender Violence looked to CEDAW 

to propose laws on domestic violence, which were then adopted by the government. 

Mexico, in adopting its General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free from Violence, drew on CEDAW, among other international and regional treaties. Following 

recommendations from the CEDAW Committee, 

Mexico is now training its federal judiciary in human rights, gender-based violence and non-discrimination along with CEDAW to promote women’s access to justice. In line with recommendations of the CEDAW Committee, Turkey enacted the 

Protection of the Family and Prevention of Violence against Women Law in 2012. 

Other examples of how CEDAW has been used to combat violence against women 

can be found in Recognizing Rights, Promoting Progress: The Global Impact of the 

Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women 

(www.icrw.org). 

One hundred eighty-seven countries have ratified CEDAW. The United States is 

one of only seven countries in the world that has not ratified CEDAW, along with 

Iran, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Palau, and Tonga. The United States’ failure 

to ratify CEDAW undermines its leadership in the global fight to combat discrimination and violence against women, calls into question its credibility, and gives the 

appearance that the United States does not believe that reducing discrimination and 

violence against women should be a priority for governments around the world. 

The scourge of violence against women and girls, however, threatens the basic security of the United States and the world. This epidemic not only affects women, 

their families and communities, but it also undermines the stability and prosperity 

of whole societies. This, in turn, has a direct impact upon U.S. foreign policy, security interests, and democracy and peace-building efforts. Gender-based violence 

against women does not stop at U.S. borders. Instead, it affects the well-being of 

U.S. citizens by contributing to global instability. The United States Senate must 

ratify CEDAW to enhance U.S. leadership in this area and support the important 

work to combat discrimination and violence against women being done by the U.S. 

Department of State and other Departments and agencies. CEDAW gives the United 

States another tool to advance the status of women and increase opportunity for 

prosperity for everyone. 

Another mechanism central to the global prevention of and response to genderbased violence is the bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act, H.R. 

3571/S. 2307, (IVAWA). IVAWA makes ending violence against women and girls a 

top diplomatic and foreign assistance priority by codifying, implementing, and giving 

congressional oversight to the ongoing U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to 

Gender-Based Violence Globally (the Strategy). The Strategy, created by Executive 

Order in August 2012, calls for a coordinated, multi-sectoral response to genderbased violence—a process led by an Interagency Working Group to ensure maximum 

efficiency. IVAWA also permanently authorizes the State Department’s Office of 

Global Women’s Issues with the position of Ambassador-at-Large, who coordinates 

policies, programs, and funding relating to gender integration and women’s empowerment internationally, including those intended to prevent and respond to genVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:07 Feb 06, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00073 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\113TH CONGRESS, 2ND SESSION\2014 ISSUE TE
70 

der-based violence (GBV). In addition, IVAWA authorizes the position of U.SID Senior Gender Coordinator, who is responsible for working with senior leadership and 

mission staff to fully integrate gender equality and female empowerment into 

U.SID’s policies, programs, and strategies. These entities exist within the current 

structures of both agencies and would not add a new level of bureaucracy; rather, 

their existence contributes to greater accountability of the gender-focused policies 

and programming currently in place. 

IVAWA would streamline and better coordinate anti-GBV programming across 

various U.S. government agencies, making addressing GBV a cornerstone of U.S. development and foreign policy. Since this legislation is aimed at coordinating and integrating existing programs, it does not require the appropriation of additional funding. The bill also focuses on preventing violence by transforming social norms about 

the acceptability of it. IVAWA recognizes that while women and girls disproportionately suffer from violence, men and boys experience targeted violence too. The bill 

intentionally utilizes the term GBV throughout, making it inclusive of all persons 

and not precluding programs from supporting men and boys. IVAWA will support 

public awareness programs to change attitudes that condone, and at times encourage, violence against women and girls, as well as men and boys, and will emphasize 

community-based solutions. 

This integral piece of legislation would also increase legal and judicial protection 

to address gender-based violence; integrate programs to address gender-based violence into already existing health programs focused on child survival, health, and 

HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment; reduce women and girls’ vulnerability 

to violence by improving their economic status and educational opportunities; and, 

promote women’s inclusion in civil and political life. 

We believe the U.S. can and should be a leader in ending one of the biggest obstacles not only to U.S. national security but also global stability, development, prosperity, and human rights for all. Ending violence against women and girls, men and 

boys, and advancing women’s equality is fundamental to the United States’ national 

security interests and today is a cornerstone of America’s foreign policy. Countries 

are more peaceful and prosperous when women have full and equal rights and opportunities. We acknowledge the leadership taken by the United States to condemn 

gender-based violence wherever it occurs—from Afghanistan and Guatemala, to Nigeria and the DRC, to the gender-based violence women experience every day in the 

United States—and we applaud the adoption of the Violence Against Women Act of 

2013. 

But today is a call to action because more needs to be done to combat genderbased violence globally. There are two more tools in the United States’ toolbox that 

are before this Committee right now. 

We, Second Chance Employment Services, call on the Senate Foreign Relations 

Committee and the U.S. Senate to move forward to pass the International Violence 

Against Women Act (IVAWA) and to ratify CEDAW in this Congress. These important tools will give the United States greater ability to work with and support other 

countries to take all necessary measures to prevent and one day end discrimination 

and violence against women and girls. The time to act is now. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS

Chairwoman Boxer, Ranking Member Paul, and members of the Subcommittee, 

on behalf of International Medical Corps, we thank you for holding this important 

and timely hearing. 

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization 

dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and 

relief and development programs. Its mission is to improve the quality of life 

through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility 

to respond rapidly to emergency situations, 

International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and 

helps bring them back to self reliance. 

Throughout the world, gender-based violence (GBV) is a pervasive public health 

and human rights issue that significantly affects women and girls. Worldwide, one 

in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some way, according 

to the United Nations. The toll is enormous, costing billions of dollars in social, judicial, and health costs, in addition to lost wages and productivity, and incalculable 

physical and emotional hardship. 

71 

Despite the seriousness of this issue, services to prevent and appropriately respond to GBV are still inadequate. This is particularly true in emergency settings, 

where women and girls face increased risks of violence. 

Since 2005, International Medical Corps has worked with communities and service providers to address violence against women and girls in diverse and challenging 

environments such as Afghanistan, Philippines, Syria, Central African Republic, 

Iraq, DRC and Russia. As risks and types of violence vary across cultures, countries 

and regions, International Medical Corps develops context-specific approaches to increase protection for women and girls and to respond to the needs of survivors of 

violence. 

International Medical Corps’ core programming activities are implemented at the 

community level, where close collaboration with local service providers and grassroots social support networks is a highest priority. 

Working closely with these actors allows us to design programs that are culturally 

appropriate and well tailored to the particular needs of targeted populations. 

We strongly support and urge swift passage of S. 2307, the International Violence 

Against Women Act of 2014 (IVAWA) and believe its enactment is of paramount importance for the U.S. government in prioritizing an end to violence against women 

and girls globally. This violence threatens peace and stability, hinders recovery and 

development, and is a barrier to women and girls fully enjoying and exercising their 

rights. 

International Medical Corps commends these bipartisan efforts to continue this 

vital and urgent work to ending violence against women and girls’ front and center 

of diplomatic efforts. S. 2307 would facilitate the allocation of key human resources, 

funding and space for coordination that this issue critically needs for strategic and 

lasting change to take place. We also welcome the legislation’s recognition of the importance of assistance to both preventing violence against women and girls, as well 

as responding to the needs of survivors in their road to recovery. 

Once again, International Medical Corps applauds you for your ongoing leadership 

and commitment in creating a forum to discuss and guide our efforts, as we join 

together to end gender-based violence around the world. 

STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

We, the 74 undersigned organizations, wish to thank Chair Barbara Boxer and 

Ranking Member Rand Paul of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on 

International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global 

Women’s Issues for convening this hearing on ‘‘Combating Violence and Discrimination Against Women: A Global Call to Action.’’ We call on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the U.S. Senate to move forward to pass the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) and to ratify the Convention on the Elimination 

of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in this Congress. These 

tools will give the United States greater clout to urge other countries to take all 

necessary steps to combat discrimination and violence against women and girls. 

Gender-based violence (GBV) is the most widespread human rights violation in 

every part of the world. The well-documented cases of using rape as a weapon of 

war in the Congo, acid attacks on the faces of girls going to school in Afghanistan, 

the 2012 shooting of Pakistani education and women’s rights activist, Malala 

Yousafzai, by the Taliban, and the recent horrific sexual assaults and hanging of 

girls and young women in India are only the most visible evidence of pervasive violence against women and girls. Unfortunately, intimate partner violence, often less 

visible, is also an epidemic, affecting 35 percent of women globally every year. 

Women have organized campaigns calling on their governments not only to adopt 

laws to provide services and safety for women and their children, bring perpetrators 

of violence to justice, educate the public, and engage boys and men, but also to address the underlying causes of discrimination and gender inequalities. 

In addressing violence against women, many countries have been aided by the 

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 

(CEDAW), also known as the women’s equality treaty. CEDAW considers genderbased violence—that is, violence directed at women and girls just because they are 

female—to be a form of discrimination under the Convention, because such violence 

impairs or nullifies women’s full enjoyment of their basic human rights. 

CEDAW offers countries a practical blueprint to achieve progress for women and 

girls by calling on each ratifying country to overcome barriers to discrimination. For 

example, when activists in Afghanistan proposed the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, they looked to CEDAW as a model to guide their approach. 

The South Korean Women’s Movements Against Gender Violence looked to CEDAW 

72 

to propose laws on domestic violence, which were then adopted by the government. 

Mexico, in adopting its General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free from Violence, drew on CEDAW, among other international and regional treaties. Following 

recommendations from the CEDAW Committee, Mexico is now training its federal 

judiciary in human rights, gender-based violence and non-discrimination along with 

CEDAW to promote women’s access to justice. In line with recommendations of the 

CEDAW Committee, Turkey enacted the Protection of the Family and Prevention 

of Violence against Women Law in 2012. Other examples of how CEDAW has been 

used to combat violence against women can be found in Recognizing Rights, Promoting Progress: The Global Impact of the Convention on the Elimination of all 

forms of Discrimination Against Women (www.icrw.org). 

One hundred eighty seven countries have ratified CEDAW. The United States is 

one of only seven countries in the world that has not ratified CEDAW, along with 

Iran, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Palau, and Tonga. The United States’ failure 

to ratify CEDAW undermines its leadership in the global fight to combat discrimination and violence against women, calls into question its credibility, and gives the 

appearance that the United States does not believe that reducing discrimination and 

violence against women should be a priority for governments around the world. 

The scourge of violence against women and girls, however, threatens the basic security of the United States and the world. This epidemic not only affects women, 

their families and communities, but it also undermines the stability and prosperity 

of whole societies. This, in turn, has a direct impact upon U.S. foreign policy, security interests, and democracy and peace building efforts. Gender-based violence 

against women does not stop at U.S. borders. Instead, it affects the well-being of 

all people in the United States by contributing to global instability. The Senate 

must ratify CEDAW to enhance U.S. leadership in this area and support the important work to combat discrimination and violence against women being done by the 

U.S. Department of State and other Departments and agencies. CEDAW gives the 

United States another tool to advance the status of women and increase opportunities for prosperity for everyone. 

Another mechanism central to the global prevention of and response to genderbased violence is the bipartisan International Violence Against Women Act, H.R. 

3571/S. 2307, (IVAWA). IVAWA makes ending violence against women and girls a 

top diplomatic and foreign assistance priority by codifying, implementing, and giving 

congressional oversight to the ongoing U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to 

Gender-Based Violence Globally (the Strategy). The Strategy, created by Executive 

Order in August 2012, calls for a coordinated, multi-sectoral response to genderbased violence—a process led by an Interagency Working Group to ensure maximum 

efficiency. IVAWA also permanently authorizes the State Department’s Office of 

Global Women’s Issues with the position of Ambassador-at-Large, who coordinates 

policies, programs, and funding relating to gender integration and women’s empowerment internationally, including those intended to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV). In addition, IVAWA authorizes the position of U.SID Senior Gender Coordinator, who is responsible for working with senior leadership and 

mission staff to fully integrate gender equality and female empowerment into 

U.SID’s policies, programs, and strategies. These entities exist within the current 

structures of both agencies and would not add a new level of bureaucracy; rather, 

their existence contributes to greater accountability of the gender-focused policies 

and programming currently in place. 

IVAWA would streamline and better coordinate anti-GBV programming across 

various U.S. government agencies, making addressing GBV a cornerstone of U.S. development and foreign policy. Since this legislation is aimed at coordinating and integrating existing programs, it does not require the appropriation of additional funding. The bill also focuses on preventing violence by transforming social norms about 

the acceptability of it. IVAWA recognizes that while women and girls disproportionately suffer from violence, men and boys experience targeted violence too. The bill 

intentionally utilizes the term GBV throughout, making it inclusive of all persons 

and not precluding programs from supporting men and boys. IVAWA will support 

public awareness programs to change attitudes that condone, and at times encourage, violence against women and girls, as well as men and boys, and will emphasize 

community-based solutions. 

This integral piece of legislation would also increase legal and judicial protection 

to address gender-based violence; integrate programs to address gender-based violence into already existing health programs focused on child survival, health, and 

HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment; reduce women and girls’ vulnerability 

to violence by improving their economic status and educational opportunities; and, 

promote women’s inclusion in civil and political life. 

73 

We believe the United States can and should be a leader in ending one of the biggest obstacles not only to U.S. national security but also global stability, development, prosperity, and human rights for all. Ending violence against women and 

girls, men and boys, and advancing women’s equality is fundamental to the United 

States’ national security interests and today is a cornerstone of America’s foreign 

policy. Countries are more peaceful and prosperous when women have full and 

equal rights and opportunities. We acknowledge the leadership taken by the United 

States to condemn gender-based violence wherever it occurs—from Afghanistan and 

Guatemala, to Nigeria and the DRC, to the gender-based violence women experience 

every day in the United States—and we applaud the adoption of the Violence 

Against Women Act of 2013. 

But today is a call to action because more needs to be done to combat discrimination and gender-based violence globally. There are two more tools in the United 

States’ toolbox that are before this Committee right now. 

We, 74 undersigned organizations, call on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the U.S. Senate to move forward to pass the International Violence 

Against Women Act (IVAWA) and to ratify CEDAW in this Congress. These important tools will give the United States greater ability to work with and support other 

countries to take all necessary measures to prevent and one day end discrimination 

and violence against women and girls. The time to act is now. 

9to5 

American Association of 

University Women 

American Civil Liberties 

Union 

American Jewish 

Committee 

American Jewish World 

Service 

American Psychological 

Association 

Amnesty International 

U.S 

Anti-Defamation League 

Baha’is of the United 

States 

Better World Campaign 

California Women’s 

Agenda 

Center for Gender & 

Refugee Studies 

The Center for Health and 

Gender Equity 

Center for Reproductive 

Rights 

Communications Workers 

of America 

Decisions In Democracy 

International 

Demos 

Equality Now 

Feminist Majority 

Freedom House 

Futures Without Violence 

Gender Action 

GlobalSolutions.org 

Guatemala Human Rights 

Commission 

Hadassah, The Women’s 

Zionist Organization of 

America, Inc. 

Human Rights Advocates 

Human Rights Watch 

The Hunger Project 

IMA World Health 

Institute for Science and 

Human Values, Inc. 

The Interfaith Center of 

New York 

International 

Psychoanalytical 

Association 

Jacob Blaustein Institute 

for the Advancement of 

Human Rights 

Jewish Board of Family 

and Children’s Services 

Jewish Women 

International 

Jewish World Watch 

The Leadership 

Conference on Civil and 

Human Rights 

MomsRising 

The National Conference 

of Puerto Rican Women, 

Inc. 

National Council of 

Jewish Women 

National Council of 

Women’s Organizations 

National Education 

Association 

National Network to End 

Domestic Violence 

National Organization for 

Women 

National Women’s Law 

Center 

Pathfinder International 

Peaceful Families Project 

Population Action 

International 

The Roosevelt Institute, 

Women and Girls Rising 

Program 

Tahirih Justice Center 

UJA-Federation of New 

York 

United Methodist Women 

United Nations 

Association of the 

United States of 

America 

U.S. National Committee 

for U.N. Women 

U.S. Women and Cuba 

Collaboration 

U.S. Women Connect 

Vital Voices Global 

Partnership 

Women Donors Network 

Women Employed 

Women Enabled 

Women for Women 

International 

Women Graduates-USA 

Women Legislators’ Lobby 

WomenNC 

Women Thrive Worldwide 

Women Watch Afrika, Inc. 

Women’s Action for New 

Directions 

Women’s Business 

Development Center 

Women’s Campaign 

International 

Women’s City Club of New 

York 

Women’s Intercultural 

Network 

Women’s U.N. Report 

Network 

YWCA U.S 

Zonta International 

Æ