Calling on the President and International Community to Take Immediate Steps to Respond to and Prevent Rape and Sexual Violence Against Women...
CALLING ON THE PRESIDENT AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO TAKE IMMEDIATE STEPS TO RESPOND TO AND PREVENT RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS IN DARFUR, SUDAN, EASTERN CHAD AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC -- (Extensions of Remarks - November 05, 2007)
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SPEECH OF
HON. CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY
OF CONNECTICUT
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2007
* Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 726, to prevent and respond to acts of rape and sexual violence in the Darfur conflict region. This resolution calls on the President and the international community to recognize and respond to the horrific acts of sexual violence that are being committed by the Sudanese armed forces, the associated Janjaweed militia, and other armed combatants with alarming regularity. Women and girls in the crisis-affected region currently lack the medical and psychological services necessary to survive and recover from these personal atrocities. Today, Congress seeks to provide them with these basic services, and states our belief that the U.S. and the international community must continue applying pressure to the government in Khartoum to stop the use of rape and sexual violence as a tool of war.
* The United Nations has recognized that rape is being used as a systematic weapon of war and that combatants are encouraged to employ it as yet another way to brutally terrorize a population. The impact on the individual, however, must not be forgotten. Rape not only brutalizes the woman, it can also rob her of her dignity and privacy, often leading to her being shunned by her family and community. The international community has thus far been unable to prevent sexual violence from becoming an almost daily event in many conflicts, including the one in Darfur. So when Congress has an opportunity to protect and aid the victims of these attacks, we must do so.
* This bill calls on the President and international community to develop the Women and Girls of Darfur Initiative that would provide health care services, medical supplies, and psychological counseling to women in the conflict-affected region. The resolution also calls for preventative measures such as ensuring that a hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force is deployed to protect women and girls from acts of rape and sexual violence. Since the Sudanese Government refuses to provide its own women this protection, the hybrid peacekeeping force must be accorded all the necessary resources, including the $724 million that the U.S. has pledged to fund the U.N.'s mission in Darfur.
* I sincerely hope my colleagues will join me and over 100 other cosponsors of this bill in fulfilling our moral obligation to protect the basic human rights of the women and girls in Darfur and the surrounding region.
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* Title IV of Senate Resolution 4, agreed to by the Senate on February 4, 1977, calls for establishment of a system for a computerized schedule of all meetings and hearings of Senate committees, subcommittees, joint committees, and committees of conference. This title requires all such committees to notify the Office of the Senate Daily Digest--designated by the Rules Committee--of the time, place, and purpose of the meetings, when scheduled, and any cancellations or changes in the meetings as they occur.
* As an additional procedure along with the computerization of this information, the Office of the Senate Daily Digest will prepare this information for printing in the Extensions of Remarks section of the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD on Monday and Wednesday of each week.
* Meetings scheduled for Tuesday, November 6, 2007 may be found in the Daily Digest of today's RECORD.
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