S.2982 - International Violence Against Women Act of 2010

S.2982 - International Violence Against Women Act of 2010; Senator John Kerry D-MA

2/4/2010--Introduced.International Violence Against Women Act of 2010 - Directs:



(1) the Secretary of State to designate an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues; and
(2) the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to designate a Women's Development Advisor. Directs the Secretary to:
(1) develop a comprehensive strategy to prevent violence against women and girls;
(2) prepare a public report on best practices for preventing and addressing violence against women and girls internationally; and
(3) determine emergency response measures to identified critical or widespread incidents of violence against women and girls in situations of armed conflict. Authorizes the Secretary and the Administrator to provide assistance to nongovernmental organizations, multilateral institutions, and foreign countries to implement such strategy and related activities. Requires that special efforts be made to award amounts appropriated under this Act to community-based and women's nongovernmental organizations in recipient countries. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to:
(1) incorporate training on prevention and response into the basic training curricula of foreign military forces and judicial officials; and
(2) ensure that U.S. assistance to units involved in regional or multilateral peacekeeping operations includes such training. Authorizes the Ambassador to provide guidance to the Administrator and the Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration. Authorizes the Secretary to provide guidance on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls to the Secretary of Defense when U.S. military personnel, military contractors, and military observers are to be deployed in humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict settings. Directs the Secretary to make U.S. financial, material, human, and other resources available to assist U.N. efforts to:
(1) implement training programs in prevention and response to violence against women and girls for peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel;
(2) enhance the deployment of military and civilian women in peacekeeping missions; and
(3) improve protection mechanisms at U.N. managed refugee and internally displaced persons camps.

Comment: The bill should be vigorously opposed because it expands and creates a new office within the US Department of State enlarging the National Government; provides an open door for future US military jingoism, thus fueling an ever increasing and nefarious military defense complex; digging us deeper into the massive deficit; and links us directly to greater United Nations folly.

While violence against women and children is abhorrent, there is little this country can do in the prevention of violence around the world. Are we going to spend trillions of dollars and kill tens of thousands of people like we have in Afghanistan? Can we name one place in the world where we have had any success in the past; I can’t?

The only way we can effectively stem violence against women and children is to be the model of a just society, which means respecting the rule of law and common law; encourage economic growth through free trade; and insuring our ability to communicate with the rest of the world remains unfettered so that we may transmit the just model and engage in dialog with those that suffer.

Freedom-freedom-freedom is the answer, not guns Mr. Kerry.