CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team
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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – With today’s strong bipartisan reintroduction of the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) in the Senate – after successful bipartisan reintroduction in the House in November 2013 – Amnesty International USA is urging lawmakers to continue to work in a bipartisan manner to pass this critical legislation. IVAWA would position the United States as an important ally for millions of women and girls worldwide whose right to live free from violence is under daily threat.
“Amnesty International USA is grateful that this life-changing legislation has been reintroduced in the Senate at a time when the world’s attention is turned on the successes – and challenges – of advancing the human rights of women and girls across the globe,” said Cristina Finch, managing director of Amnesty International USA’s identity and discrimination unit, which focuses on women’s human rights. “The abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria is yet another deeply disturbing example of the ways in which violence against girls and women affects every aspect of their lives.
“One in three women will experience violence in her lifetime, affecting her ability to access, among other rights, the right to education. Amnesty International is proud to join IVAWA's sponsors in the Senate and House in their commitment to shining a light on this global scourge until every woman and girl can live a life free from violence.”
Congress has yet to pass comprehensive legislation to help prevent and reduce violence against women and girls globally. As the bill continues to build support on both sides of the aisle in the House with a record number of bipartisan cosponsors, the reintroduction of the bill in the Senate comes at a critical moment. The International Violence Against Women Act would codify the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, making gender-based violence prevention and response – in homes, communities and conflict zones – a top U.S. diplomatic and foreign assistance priority.
Amnesty applauds the International Violence Against Women Act’s original sponsors, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) for their strong bipartisan effort on S. 2307.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries and territories campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth, and dignity are denied.