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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – A shocking one in three women worldwide will experience physical or sexual violence during their lives, according to the World Health Organization.
Amnesty International USA's Managing Director for Women's Human Rights, Cristina Finch, delivered testimony Wednesday at the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights Hearing on Gender-Based Violence, to urge Congressional action one day before the planned reintroduction of the International Violence Against Women Act.
"Living free from violence is a human right, yet one-in-three women will experience violence in her lifetime," said Cristina Finch, Managing Director of Amnesty International USA's Women's Human Rights Program. "Congress has the opportunity to show its commitment to women and girls and help make the one-in-three become none-in-three by supporting and passing the International Violence Against Women Act."
Despite the horrific attacks on women and girls in Kenya, Syria, Egypt, India and Pakistan that have recently captured the world's attention, Congress has yet to pass comprehensive legislation to help prevent and reduce common forms of violence against women and girls globally.
Finch is also an adjunct law professor at George Mason University School of Law. She served as AIUSA's interim managing director of government relations from March through September of 2010 and as the government relations director for the Demand Dignity Campaign. Finch focuses her work at AIUSA on women's and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) human rights; economic, social and cultural rights; and multilateral issues.
Reach Finch's recent Amnesty International USA blog post, "Why Won't Congress Pass the International Violence Against Women Act?"
Finch's testimony in full submitted for the Congressional record can be found here.
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 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.