IA 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. J. RES. 12 

Denouncing the practices of female genital mutilation, domestic violence, 

‘‘honor’’ killings, acid burnings, dowry deaths, and other gender-based 

persecutions, expressing the sense of Congress that participation, protection, recognition, and equality of women is crucial to achieving a just, 

moral and peaceful society, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2011 

Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas introduced the following joint resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

JOINT RESOLUTION 

Denouncing the practices of female genital mutilation, domestic violence, ‘‘honor’’ killings, acid burnings, dowry 

deaths, and other gender-based persecutions, expressing 

the sense of Congress that participation, protection, recognition, and equality of women is crucial to achieving 

a just, moral and peaceful society, and for other purposes. 

Whereas human rights violations against women occur 

around the world and are not limited to times of war, 

and have been committed for political gain, personal advantage, ethnic hatred, and in the name of deities and 

fundamentalist religious zeal; 


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Whereas in many parts of the world, there is a culture of violence and discrimination which denies women rights equal 

to those of men and which legitimizes the exploitation of 

women for personal gratification, political purposes, and 

financial gain; 

Whereas despite the fact that in 1998, the United Nations 

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda set a precedent in international law by establishing and prosecuting 

rape and sexual violence in times of violent conflict as 

war crimes and crimes against humanity, the rape of 

women continues to be used as an instrument of armed 

conflict in the 21st century; 

Whereas former Bangladeshi Prime-Minister Sheikh Hasina 

acknowledged that every year in Bangladesh up to 200 

women are horribly disfigured by acid attacks by their 

spurned husbands or suitors, leaving many of them blind, 

deaf, or dead; 

Whereas according to Amnesty International, 6,000 women 

are subjected to genital mutilation each day in North Africa, and 135,000,000 women, in at least 46 other countries, have undergone female genital mutilation worldwide; 

Whereas Time Magazine reports that about 25,000 women in 

India each year are doused with gasoline, set on fire, and 

burned to death because their marriage dowries are 

deemed too small, and four out of five of these attacks 

are not reported to or recorded by law enforcement agencies; 

Whereas in many societies baby girls are denied food, 

drowned, suffocated, abandoned, or their spines are broken simply because they are born girls; 


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Whereas in China, where the male child is traditionally prized 

above the female, the ‘‘one-child’’ state policy has multiplied the rate of abandonment, sex-selective and forced 

abortion and female infanticide, and yielded a skewed 

population demographic; 

Whereas Chinese demographics have exacerbated the abduction, trafficking, and sale of Asian women and girls for 

the purposes of sex slavery and forced marriage; 

Whereas Amnesty International estimates that this year, 

more than 15,000 women will be sold as sexual slaves in 

China; 

Whereas according to World Bank figures, at least one-in-five 

women and girls around the world has been beaten or 

sexually abused in her lifetime; 

Whereas the 2002 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of 

Europe estimates that the leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 through 44 is the violence 

to which they are subjected in their own homes, and in 

the Russian Federation alone, every day 36,000 women 

are beaten by their husbands or partners; 

Whereas in the United States, every day four women die as 

a result of domestic violence, every year more than half 

a million women are battered, every year 4,000,000 

women are physically abused by their husbands or domestic partners, one-third of American women report physical or sexual abuse by a husband or boyfriend at some 

point in their lives, over 324,000 pregnant women are 

victims of intimate partner violence annually, the majority of welfare recipients have experienced domestic violence as adults, and domestic violence causes 100,000 


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days of hospitalization, 30,000 emergency room visits, 

and 40,000 visits to a doctor each year; 

Whereas the theme for the 2007 United Nations International Women’s Day was ‘‘Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls’’; 

Whereas UNAIDS asserts that the best way to prevent HIV 

is to raise the status of women because a woman’s vulnerability to HIV infection is in direct proportion to her 

lack of control over the risks of infection; 

Whereas the inequalities between women and men have persisted and major obstacles remain, with serious consequences for the well-being of all people; 

Whereas the situation of women is exacerbated by the extreme poverty that affects the lives of the majority of the 

world’s people, in particular women and children; 

Whereas families rely on mothers and wives for emotional 

support, labor, and income needed to raise healthy children and care for other relatives; 

Whereas according to the United Nations, nearly 70 percent 

of the people who live in abject poverty are women and 

women perform two-thirds of the world’s work, earn less 

than five percent of its income, and own less than one 

percent of its property; 

Whereas democracy, political stability, and economic development are linked to the welfare of women and children, yet 

the United Nations estimates that three-of-every-four illiterate adults in the world are women and two-thirds of 

children denied primary education are girls; 

Whereas the exclusion of women from the political process in 

many countries makes them even more vulnerable to 

abuse; 


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Whereas as long as women and girls are undervalued, overworked, and subjected to violence in and out of their 

homes, the potential of the human family to create a 

peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized; and 

Whereas the leadership of women is strongly linked to social 

justice, economic prosperity, political stability, peaceful 

relations, and a healthy population: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 That— 

4 (1) Congress— 

5 (A) denounces the barbaric practices of fe6 male genital mutilation, domestic violence, 

7 ‘‘honor’’ killings, acid burning, dowry deaths, 

8 and other gender-based persecutions and 

9 crimes; 

10 (B) asserts that women are not chattel, 

11 should not be trafficked, exploited, or sold for 

12 services, and should not be denied the right to 

13 education, to ownership of property, or to par14 ticipate in full, economic, social and political 

15 life; 

16 (C) demands the cessation of these bar17 baric practices and the dismantling of social 

18 and institutional mechanisms which perpetuate 

19 systematic discrimination against women and 

20 girls; and 


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1 (D) calls on all governments to pass en2 forceable laws banning these practices, pros3 ecute any individuals who persecute or violate 

4 women and girls with these acts, and pass 

5 measures to empower women and girls and af6 ford them equal access to educational, social, 

7 and economic opportunities; 

8 (2) the President, in conjunction with fellow 

9 donor countries, shall seek to promote the rights, 

10 health, and empowerment of women in every aspect 

11 of their foreign assistance to developing countries, 

12 and discourage continued acts of violence against 

13 women and the impunity that often accompanies 

14 these acts; and 

15 (3) it is the sense of Congress that— 

16 (A) participation, protection, recognition, 

17 health, and equality of women and girls are cru18 cial to achieving a just, moral, and peaceful so19 ciety; and 

20 (B) regardless of religion, geography, or 

21 form of government, women should not be de22 nied their human rights, and those rights must 

23 be defended and enforced when they are 

24 abridged, challenged, or violated. 

Æ 


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