Urge your Senators and Representatives
to End Violence Against Women!
What is the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA)?
The I-VAWA supports innovative approaches to ending violence against women globally by promoting services for survivors, holding perpetrators accountable and challenging public attitudes that condone such violence. Violence against women is a human rights violation and a worldwide pandemic - approximately 1 out of every 3 women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
What the passage of I-VAWA would mean to women around the world:
- Increased efforts to prevent violence against women during conflict and in humanitarian settings.
- Legal reform and commitment to finding perpetrators and bringing them to justice.
- Strengthened capacity of women's organizations to help survivors.
- Increased opportunities for women, free from violence, to seek testing or treatment for HIV/AIDS.
- Expanded economic and educational opportunities that would help women who are abused flee their abuser or reduce thier risk of exploitation.
What is Happening Now?
The International Violence Against Women Act (S.2982/H.R.4594) (I-VAWA) has been introduced in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The bill, which was also introduced in the House and the Senate during the last Congress, has been reintroduced by Senator Kerry (D-MA), Senator Boxer (D-CA), Senator Collins (R-ME), and Senator Snowe (R-ME) and by Representatives William Delahunt (D-MA), Ted Poe (R-TX). We now have a new opportunity to build support for the I-VAWA and make a difference in millions of women’s lives.
Show your support for Senators Kerry, Boxer, Collins, and Snowe and Representatives Delahunt and Poe and their commitment to women’s rights by urging your Senator and/or Representative to co-sponsor the International Violence Against Women Act.
What Can You Do?
Send a letter to your Representative and/or Senator asking them to sign on to the IVAWA bill, groundbreaking legislation that will reduce violence against women and girls worldwide: You may download this sample letter to personalize and send.
Begin reaching out now – Get more information at: www.amnestyusa.org/ivawa, www.endabuse.org or www.womenthrive.org/ivawa.