Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2010 And 2011

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 3 minutes.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to urge a ``yes'' vote on my amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. This is a time of unprecedented change in our outreach efforts to our global neighbors, and this authorization will help guide that path for the upcoming year and, therefore, I would like to really thank the committee for their hard work. And I would also like to thank my very good friend, Congresswoman Maloney of New York, for being a leader and steadfast advocate for the women of Afghanistan.

It is just so difficult to express the hurdles that face Afghan women and girls. There are just few words to describe the abhorrent conditions that assault these women and girls on a daily basis, and there are few experiences in our own lives that compare to their constant struggle for survival and freedom.

Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. One in eight Afghan women die due to pregnancy-related complications every year. That's one woman every 30 minutes.

After years of brutal Taliban rule that allowed few rights for women, approximately 90 percent of their female population is illiterate.

There are over 50,000 widows in the country, many of whom lack substantive means to support themselves or their female children, who lack access to health care, to education, to employment, to shelter, and on and on and on.

The United States and international aid organizations have provided billions of dollars to rebuild the country and to promote the basic and fundamental human rights of the Afghan people.

More importantly, though, we have asked our own people to sacrifice our sons and daughters, our citizens, for this cause. Our brave men and women serving in Afghanistan are there to protect the American people, but they are also there to reach out to the people in this war-torn country. And that is why, Mr. Chairman, I have offered this particular amendment.

Earlier this year the Afghan Government moved a measure that would severely suppress the rights of this country's Shiite women and girls. This measure would further restrict their free mobility and actually legalizes marital rape. It does not condemn the marrying of minors and, instead, it appears to promote it.

This legislation ties a woman's legal financial stability and well-being to a man, and demands that a woman submit sexually to her husband in order to be privy to any sort of protection.

I see proposals like this in-depth reporting on multiple news media outlets highlighting the struggles that single women, girls, widows, married women face in Afghanistan.

Now, I understand that there are cultural differences, and I understand that culture and society in the Middle East will never look like that in the United States.

The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.

Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. I yield myself 30 more seconds.

But I also understand what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks of when she says that a woman's rights are human rights. And I understand that these actions prevent a nation from moving beyond an era still wounded by the scars and the fears of years of repressive Taliban rule.

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