The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee held a hearing on Violence Against Women: Global Costs and Consequences on October 1, 2009. Witnesses at the hearing included The Honorable Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State; The Honorable Stephen Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues at the Department of State; Major General Patrick Cammaert, Former Military Advisor to the UN Secretary General and Former UN Force Commander for the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo; and Ms. Geeta Rao Gupta, President of the International Center for Research on Women. In his opening statement, Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, explained that societies in which women feel safe and empowered tend to be healthier, more stable, and more economically prosperous. Senator Kerry called for the United States to enact the International Violence Against Women Act, a bill designed to provide the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development with the necessary resources to combat violence against women worldwide, and to ensure that women’s issues are prominently considered in all foreign policy decisions.
To see the video of the hearing and read witness testimonies, click here.
Compiled from: Senator John Kerry, "Kerry Opening Statement at Hearing on Global Violence Against Women" (1 October 2009); U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, "Violence Against Women: Global Costs and Consequences" (1 October 2009).