Secretary Clinton, throughout your career in the Senate you worked to help bring peace and security to Darfur, and to reduce gender-based violence abroad. We urge you to use your new office to take concrete action towards these goals and against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war aimed at torturing, intimidating, and terrorizing women and communities. In 2007, you signed on as a cosponsor of the International Violence Against Women Act, as did President Obama, and Vice-President Biden.
Unfortunately, that bill never came to a vote. You now have the opportunity to directly advance many of the goals within that important piece of legislation. We urge you to direct the U.S. Department of State to create the necessary mechanisms to stop this type of violence and immediately address the continued targeting of women in Darfur, Sudan.
DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE PETITION TO BRING TO EVENTS
Dear Madame Secretary,Rape and sexual assault are weapons of war used to torture, intimidate, and terrorize women and communities. We are writing today because we have witnessed survivors testify to these horrors, now faced on a daily basis in Darfur, Sudan. We implore you, Madame Secretary, to ensure that the United States condemns and combats violence against women and girls. This includes offering necessary advice and assistance to other governments and multilateral institutions to ensure a coordinated global effort to prevent and respond to such violenceSpecifically, the United States should: - Enhance U.S. led and financed programs designed to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief operations, conflict, and post-conflict situations;- Enhance gender-specific training by United States personnel and contractors of professional foreign military and police forces designated to U.N. and A.U. peacekeeping missions, especially training of the currently deployed African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur;- Enhance training to judicial officials to include specific and thorough instruction on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls; and - Press for the implementation of policies and practices in global peace and security efforts, including United Nations peacekeeping and policing operations, which prevent and respond to violence against women and girls and hold personnel accountable for the full implementation of these policies and practices. In an effort to ensure these policies are taken forward, we urge you to work with President Obama to increase assistance to the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations for program activities to reduce and prevent violence against women and girls. We likewise urge you to work with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development to provide assistance to nongovernmental organizations, multilateral institutions, and foreign governments for programs that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in all humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict operations, including those programs in Darfur. We urge you to ensure the inclusion of additional anti sexual and gender-based violence programs in the ongoing U.S. and international response to the crisis in Darfur. These policies are part of the International Violence Against Women Act, as introduced in the 1st Session of the 110th Congress as S. 2279 by then-Senator Joe Biden, with bipartisan co-sponsorship including then-Senator Barack Obama and yourself. We commend your leadership and ask that this year, Madame Secretary, you take every step in your power to ensure that these policies become reality. The people of Darfur are waiting.
* Required Field
