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, protec-
tion, 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, do-
mestic violence, ‘‘honor’’ killings, acid burnings, dowry 
deaths, and other gender-based persecutions, expressing 
the sense of Congress that participation, protection, rec-
ognition, and equality of women is crucial to achieving 
a just, moral and peaceful society, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ad-
vantage, 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 vio-
lence 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 prece-
dent 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 Af-
rica, and 135,000,000 women, in at least 46 other coun-
tries, have undergone female genital mutilation world-
wide; 
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 agen-
cies; 
Whereas in many societies baby girls are denied food, 
drowned, suffocated, abandoned, or their spines are bro-
ken 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 multi-
plied the rate of abandonment, sex-selective and forced 
abortion and female infanticide, and yielded a skewed 
population demographic; 
Whereas Chinese demographics have exacerbated the abduc-
tion, 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 world-
wide 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 domes-
tic partners, one-third of American women report phys-
ical 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 major-
ity of welfare recipients have experienced domestic vio-
lence 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 Inter-
national Women’s Day was ‘‘Ending Impunity for Vio-
lence 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 vul-
nerability 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 per-
sisted and major obstacles remain, with serious con-
sequences for the well-being of all people; 
Whereas the situation of women is exacerbated by the ex-
treme 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 chil-
dren 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 develop-
ment are linked to the welfare of women and children, yet 
the United Nations estimates that three-of-every-four il-
literate 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, over-
worked, 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 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
That— 
(1) Congress— 
(A) denounces the barbaric practices of fe-
male genital mutilation, domestic violence, 
‘‘honor’’ killings, acid burning, dowry deaths, 
and 
other 
gender-based 
persecutions 
and 
crimes; 
(B) asserts that women are not chattel, 
should not be trafficked, exploited, or sold for 
services, and should not be denied the right to 
education, to ownership of property, or to par-
ticipate in full, economic, social and political 
life; 
(C) demands the cessation of these bar-
baric practices and the dismantling of social 
and institutional mechanisms which perpetuate 
systematic discrimination against women and 
girls; and 
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(D) calls on all governments to pass en-
forceable laws banning these practices, pros-
ecute any individuals who persecute or violate 
women and girls with these acts, and pass 
measures to empower women and girls and af-
ford them equal access to educational, social, 
and economic opportunities; 
(2) the President, in conjunction with fellow 
donor countries, shall seek to promote the rights, 
health, and empowerment of women in every aspect 
of their foreign assistance to developing countries, 
and discourage continued acts of violence against 
women and the impunity that often accompanies 
these acts; and 
(3) it is the sense of Congress that— 
(A) participation, protection, recognition, 
health, and equality of women and girls are cru-
cial to achieving a just, moral, and peaceful so-
ciety; and 
(B) regardless of religion, geography, or 
form of government, women should not be de-
nied their human rights, and those rights must 
be defended and enforced when they are 
abridged, challenged, or violated. 
Æ 
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