[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 10 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. J. RES. 10
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, 2009
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;
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;
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 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;
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
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 female
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 participate in full,
economic, social and political life;
(C) demands the cessation of these barbaric
practices and the dismantling of social and
institutional mechanisms which perpetuate systematic
discrimination against women and girls; and
(D) calls on all governments to pass enforceable
laws banning these practices, prosecute any individuals
who persecute or violate women and girls with these
acts, and pass measures to empower women and girls and
afford 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 crucial to
achieving a just, moral, and peaceful society; and
(B) regardless of religion, geography, or form of
government, women should not be denied their human
rights, and those rights must be defended and enforced
when they are abridged, challenged, or violated.
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